Pokemon Adventures: Guilty Conscience
by stardust-mantacor
Summary: Most Pokemon trainers start their journeys at the age of ten, while those who don't are seen as abnormal, and are sometimes mocked by other trainers. But when a shadow is cast over the newly developed Utreme Region, three abnormal young trainers are forced to carry the burden of their world, none of them aware of how closely linked they are to the force that threatens their world.
1. Chapter 1

_This world of ours truly is a strange one, our world of Pokemon. Every day is a new voyage, every battle is an experience, every captured Pokemon is a memory that we cherish. Every friend we make, every friend we lose, every battle we win, every contest we lose… All things that take place so quickly, and yet, leave such an impact on us. Our journeys as trainers truly are wonderful experiences that no one shall ever forget. Through the ups and downs,__the__light and darkness, the joy and agony, every experience is ingrained in our hearts like a mark from a branding iron. But as every great trainer has said, written, and thought before, every great legacy, every great expedition, every great journey, begins with a single step._

In the world of Pokemon, beings called Pokemon live in harmony with humans, whether battling or simply living together. The Utreme region is one of the many places where Pokemon thrive with humans. The region is separated into the Utreme mainland, and its North, South, and West Islands. In the North Utreme sea, there are the Relgo Islands, where many young trainers begin their journeys with Pokemon. One young trainer in particular was about to embark on his own fateful voyage...

In one of the many houses on the shore of the Islands, a Pelipper flew up the carpeted stairs, and glided into a blue walled room. The water bird pokemon landed on the room's bed, which had a fire design on it. Sleeping in it was a young boy, his neck-length, dark brown hair obscuring his face from view.

"Pelipper." The pokemon squawked, tickling the boys nose with his wing. The boy moved a bit, but he wouldn't wake. Annoyed, Pelipper flew up and landed on the boys forehead, and began jumping up and down on it. "Pelipper!" No matter how many times he yelled, jumped, and poked the boy, he wouldn't wake up, and soon, he was fed up. "PELIPPER!" He called out, and then shot a hydro pump at the boys face, forcing him awake, as he flailed his arms.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" The boy cried out angrily. He wiped his eyes furiously, but the pokemon was already gone by the time he was screaming.

"Sean!" A female voice called from downstairs. "I hear that you're awake. Hurry up and get dressed so you can eat."

"Okay mom!" Sean called back. _Stupid Pelipper. _He thought to himself.

After he pulled himself out of bed, Sean dressed himself in a plain, light gray shirt with a small blue pokeball design on the left breast, dark blue cargo shorts, and his favorite pair of red sandals. He then walked to the mirror to make sure that he looked presentable, for today he was going to see Professor Hawthorn, his region's Pokemon Professor, about getting a starter pokemon. He made sure his hair was straight, and that there weren't any bags or dark circles under his grey-blue eyes. "Today's the day, huh?"

Sean walked downstairs to see his mother eating some oatmeal. He sat down next to her, and grabbed an apple off of the table. "Good morning." He greeted her.

"Good morning sweetheart." His mother responded, and kissed his head. Sean quickly wiped it off with a pout. "Are you excited to see Professor Hawthorn? You'll finally be getting your first pokemon!" Ms. Moxxy said with a huge grin.

Sean just took another bite of his apple. "Yeah….I'm finally going to start my journey." He looked up at the ceiling absentmindedly. "Which pokemon will I pick though?" _Treeko, Tepig, Froakie, Cyndaquil…_ _I can't choose. _He thought.

"It's okay if you can't decide yet." Sean looked to his mom. "Just follow your heart. You'll know what to do."

Sean looked at the clock and stood up. "I need to go mom." He kissed her head and threw his apple core away.

"Don't you want more to eat than that? It's your big day!" Sean's mom asked him.

Sean turned his head back to her, and smiled. "I'll be alright."

"Remember to bring a change of clothes!" His mother called after him.

Sean ran upstairs and grabbed his blue and white bag. He walked over to his shelf, pulled out one of the drawers, and stuffed a red hoodie and gray sweatpants into his bag. He zipped up his bag, and was going to leave, when his eyes drifted to the picture on top of the shelf. It was a photo of a man and a Blaziken. The man had brown hair like and Sean, and his eyes were a light shade of Hazel. He was smiling at the camera, and winking one eye, happy as can be.

Sean picked up the photo, and stared intently at it. "Dad. I'm starting my journey today." He whispered. "I'll do what you couldn't. I'll be the best there is. Watch me. I'll make you proud to call me your son."

Sean set down the photo, and turned to walk out of his room. Before he did, he turned to a small rack on his wall. He grabbed the necklace that hung from the rack, slinging it around his neck. It was a dull red orb being held onto by a silver dragon claw. He slung his bag over his shoulder, and rushed out the door.

Sean ran out his front door, allowing it to swing closed behind him. A pleasant breeze blew through his small town, causing Sean to smile. He looked out over the open Utreme sea, watching the Pelippers and wingulls flying over the clear blue waves. After taking in the familiar sights of his home, Sean walked around his house towards the Pokemon Lab, the smooth grass brushing lightly against his legs as he walked.

Sean stopped at the doors of the Hawthorne Pokemon Lab, causing them to open automatically. The people inside were quite busy, not even acknowledging him. Sean attempted to get their attention. "Um hel-" He couldn't finish his greeting before the person he tried to talk to whized past him. "I'm tryi-" Another scientist walked by him as if he wasn't there. _They keep ignoring me! _He thought angrily.

"You must be Sean." At the sound of his name, Sean turned around. In front of him stood a moderately tall woman, only slightly taller than Sean himself, whose hair was tied into a plain black ponytail. She wore a professional-looking lab coat, but it was worn over a t-shirt with a Meowth printed on it, giving her a less than professional appearance. In addition to her lab coat, she sported some plain blue jeans, and a pair of flats. "I'm Professor Hawthorn! Nice to meet you." She smiled, and held out her hand.

Sean looked into her dark brown eyes. In one look, her eyes told Sean that she was a warm, friendly individual. He dropped his angry scowl, and he took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you as well."

"You know, you're a lot older than I expected." Professor Hawthorne admitted. Sean ignored her remark, and she changed the subject. "Anyway, I know that you've come for your starter pokemon, so let's get right to it!" She gestured for Sean to follow her, and he complied. As they walked, they passed many rooms with groups of scientists in them. Each group was observing different types of pokemon, and using machines that genuinely interested Sean.

"What you guys do here?" Sean asked, legitimately intrigued..

The professor stopped abruptly, turned around dramatically, and pointed a finger at Sean's face. "WE STUDY POKEMON!" She shouted at him.

Sean jumped at the sudden yelling. "...Ow." He complained.

"S-sorry. I-I just, _love_ pokemon..." She awkwardly scratched the back of her head, a blush spreading across her vibrant young face.

This made Sean smile a bit. "So do I. It's okay, I can understand why you'd be excited."

They continued walking until they turned into a room with nothing in it but a steel table, a large black cylinder on top of it. "It's time you you to pick your starter." Professor Hawthorn pressed the red button that laid on the side of the device, and from it arose six panels, each with three pokeballs sitting on it. "So which pokemon would you like to start with?" Professor Hawthorne asked. Her expression showed excitement, and Sean could tell that this was her favorite part of being a professor.

Sean made his way to the machine. Each pokeball had a sticker of one of the starters on it. His breaths became erratic with anticipation, and he began to reach for one, but his hand began to shake. "I-I…"

The professor looked at Sean with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

Sean looked up at her. "I- I need some fresh air….I'll be back in a bit."

He quickly ran past the professor, ignoring her as she called his name. Sean knew where he was going, and it wasn't that far from the lab.

Sean ran to a forested area, and started searching the familiar landscape. He found what he was looking for, a rather large tree with a plethora of berries on it, and sat down underneath its large branches. He always came here when he needed to think. It was one of the first places where him and his dad bonded. "I just can't decide on a starter...Is that normal?"

Being abnormal is something Sean had dealt with before. When he was younger, the other kids on the island would mock him because he liked healing pokemon, and didn't enjoy battling with them. After they turned ten years old, the kids left him alone, but people would still talk about him behind his back. Once he was told he'd make a great Nurse Joy. But one day, underneath this very tree, his dad told him something that changed his life. _Normal is overrated! What is normal anyway? Forcing Pokemon to fight for you? In all honesty, more people should be like you!_

Sean smiled at the quote. "Whoever I pick… I'm stuck with forever…" Sean continued monologuing. "Dad….Who should I pick?"

Sean sighed, and reclined against the tree trunk. He held his necklace in his palm, and closed his eyes. _Whoever I pick… Has to fight for me… I thought after three years I'd be ok with this… _

The somber quiet of the forest was disrupted by the sound of rustling bushes. Sean opened his eyes, and looked around, expecting Professor Hawthorne to jump out at him. While nothing approached him, or jumped out at him, the rustling sound continued. Sean slowly rose to his feet, and scanned the area around himself. His eyes locked onto a few bushes, which were slowly being brushed aside. He jumped slightly as he heard a low moan come from the bushes, as if something was in pain. Sean walked over to the bushes, and nervously pulled apart the branches. "Who's there?" He asked, as if the creature would respond to him.

Much to his surprise, a bleach-white figure fell out of the bushes, onto the forest floor. It had green hair that covered most of its face, with two red spikes protruding from the front and back of its head. "R...Ral…" The tiny creature panted.

"A pokemon?" Sean asked himself. He took a closer look at the small creature, and noticed that it was covered in scrapes, bruises, and bitemarks.

"Ralts..." It forced out before fainting.

Sean quickly scooped up the pokemon into his arms. "It's hurt pretty badly…" He said to himself. "There's a Pokemon Center in town. I gotta hurry!" He turned to run back the way he came, but he stopped himself. Standing a few feet away from him was a wild Pinsir, which was staring hungrily at him. It's eyes were locked onto the injured Ralts, and it clicked its pincers together threateningly. Sean didn't move, and the Pinsir continued to watch him.

_I have to run… _Sean decided. _I have to save it...no matter what! _He looked around himself, searching for a way to run, or something to defend himself with. He made a path in his head of a detour he could take back to the town, which started by running back away from Pinsir. _All I need to do is get around him…_

Sean slowly took a step backwards, while the Pinsir watched in earnest. He took three steps away, then four, then six, then eight, never once taking his eyes off of the monstrous bug before him. He was ten steps away, and he was ready to sprint, when the Pinsir hissed loudly at him. It sprung towards him, its pincers outstretched, trying to grab him. Sean broke into a sprint in the other direction, desperately trying to get away, but the Ralts in his grasp slowed him down.

It didn't take long for the Pinsir to be upon him. It landed mere inches behind him, and Sean was knocked onto his stomach. The giant bug towered over him and the injured Ralts, hissing violently. Fear nearly overpowered Sean as it lowered its pincers towards him. Mere moments away from becoming lunch, Sean reached in front of himself, and scooped up as much dirt and gravel as he could. With no time to spare, Sean spun around, and threw the sediment straight into Pinsir's eyes. "Pinsssser!" It hissed angrily, and began trying to wipe its eyes clean. Seizing the opportunity, Sean picked up Ralts, and sprinted past the stunned pokemon.

He ran as fast as he could away from the Pinsir, convinced that it was following right behind him. He didn't look back, and ran straight towards his home town. After running for at least a minute, he burst through the bushes near Professor Hawthorne's lab. He was cradling the injured white pokemon in his arms, and ran straight towards the Pokemon Center.

When he entered the town, he heard a female voice call out to him. "Sean, there you are! Where have you been?"

Sean turned slightly, and noticed Professor Hawthorne was calling to him. Not stopping, he yelled to her, "This Ralts needs medical treatment!" Sean ran through the doors of the Pokemon Center, finally stopping to catch his breath. He was panting heavily, and his legs ached from running so hard.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" Nurse Joy greeted him.

Sean jogged up to the counter, and gently set down the Ralts on it. "This Ralts… It's injured…" He panted. "I found it… In the forest."

The nurse looked down at the pale white figure, and gasped. "I'll see to it immediately!" She declared, and picked it up, running behind an employee's only door.

Sean breathed an enormous sigh of relief, and collapsed onto one of the chairs in the waiting room.

Three hours after Sean had arrived, Nurse Joy came from the back room with Audino right on her heels. Sean quickly stood up on his shaky legs. "Well?"

"You're lucky you came when you did, Ralts was badly injured." The nurse smiled.

Sean just looked at her with his fist clenched. "I can't believe _any_ pokemon could hurt a defenseless baby pokemon like this..." He murmured.

Nurse joy sighed. "It's in their nature. Pokemon need to hunt to survive in the wild. Some of them maintain that nature of theirs throughout their entire lives, even after being captured."

The doors to the Pokemon Center opened automatically, and Professor Hawthorne came in, carrying multiple snacks and drinks. "I'm back!"

The professor's cheery mood confused Nurse Joy and Sean. "Thank you for staying with me." Sean thanked her.

"No problem, It's my job as a pokemon professor to help young trainers in anyway I can." Professor Hawthorne replied cheerfully.

Sean looked to the door that lead to the resting rooms. "C-can I see her?"

Nurse joy seemed dumbfounded by his question. "How did you know it was female?"

"Well, its voice was slightly higher pitched than a male Ralts, and its hair is a few centimeters longer than a male." Sean scratched his head. "I read up on Ralts while I was waiting."

Professor Hawthorn looked impressed. "You retained all the information about Ralts?"

"Well, not all of it. Just the important things." Sean answered.

"Let's go, I'm sure you'll explode if you don't see her." Sean followed Nurse Joy and Audino quickly as she lead him behind the counter. They came to a plain white door, that was simply labeled _observation_. "When you go in, just try not to be too loud."

Sean slowly inched open the plain white door, trying to remain as quiet as possible. He quietly shut the door behind him, and looked around the room before him. The room contained many beds where injured pokemon were resting, many of them badly injured. _So that's why I needed to be quiet… _Sean realized. He began to tiptoe around the room, searching for the pale pokemon that he had dropped off hours ago. After he slowly creeped around the room, he found the injured Ralts.

Ralts was sitting upright, staring absentmindedly at the floor. Sean slowly approached it, making sure to not frighten the poor thing. As he grew closer to it, he scuffed his shoe on the floor, in order to announce his presence. The Ralts quickly cast his gaze to Sean, and it shrunk back in fright. "How are you feeling, Ralts?" He whispered as he approached. Ralts kept its eyes glued on Sean, and started trembling fearfully. Sean stopped approaching, and smiled at it. "You don't know who I am, do you?" Ralts' terror-filled eyes gave him his answer. "I don't blame you. You fainted right before I found you."

"R-ralts!" It squeaked at him.

"My name is Sean." Sean carried on. "I'm the one who brought you back here." He grinned and let out a quiet chuckle. "I'll be honest, I thought we wouldn't get away from that rabid Pinsir."

Ralts' eyes widened. "Ralts?" It whispered, noticeably curious.

Sean closed the distance between himself and Ralts, which caused it to once again shy away. "Yeah, when I was carrying you back here, I got attacked by a Pinsir. I managed to get away by throwing dirt in its eyes." Sean chuckled again. "I'll admit, not the manliest escape ever." Ralts mouth was agape, and it seemed less fearful of the boy in front of it. "So anyway, are you doing alright? You had some pretty serious injuries back there."

Ralts looked down at her hands, and looked as if she was going to cry. Her green hair disguised her face from Sean, but he could tell that she was quietly sobbing. "I know you probably don't wanna talk to me." Sean continued talking. "Trust me, everything will be alright now. This Pokemon Center is trained to help you." Sean smiled happily at the white pokemon. "So… Don't cry, ok?"

Ralts stopped sobbing, and lifted her head back up. She looked into Sean's eyes with a look of both confusion and awe. Sean smiled back at her, and then stood up. "I'll leave you to rest now. Goodbye, Ralts."

Ralts watched him stand up, and begin to walk away. To Sean's great surprise, it seemed reluctant to see him leave. But he knew that the injured pokemon needed time to recover, so he slowly exited the observation room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

The following morning, Sean was at the breakfast table with a blank expression on his face. All he could think about was the Ralts he saved; he wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Sean?" His mom called out to him and he looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine…" Sean answered her. "It's just... I'm worried about the pokemon I saved yesterday."

Mrs. Moxxy smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure that little cutie will be back in shape in no time!"

Sean looked back down at the table. _I know she'll be ok… _He thought sadly. _But what happens after it's alright? What happens when we release it? Will that Pinsir come back for it?_

"Sweetie, you don't look fine." His mom scooted her chair closer to him. "Look at me." She commanded. Sean obeyed, and she frowned at him. "You have those dark circles under your eyes again… You didn't sleep well, did you?" Sean lowered his head embarrassedly. "Sean, you can talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I know I can, mom." Sean assured her. "I really am just worried about that Ralts…" He took a deep breath. "On my way to the Pokemon Center, I got attacked by a wild Pinsir. It was trying to…" Sean's voice trailed off, and his mom gasped in shock. "I'm just worried that when we release Ralts, it will get hurt by some other pokemon. Or worse…"

Mrs. Moxxy lowered herself to Sean's eye level, and gave him a comforting smile. "Sweetie, you should have told me about that." Sean avoided her gaze, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, you're not in trouble. I'm glad you're ok." Sean met her eyes, but now she was frowning. "What I _am _worried about is how much you're stressing about this. You've done what you needed to, and I'm proud of you. But you should leave Ralts in the care of the Pokemon Center." She stood back up, and smiled. "Besides, don't you have a journey you want to start? Have you decided yet?"

Sean groaned, and leaned back in his chair. "That's the other thing that's bugging me." He began. "It's not because I don't know who to pick, at least not anymore. I can't describe it to you, but something about being handed a pokemon that I own forever is just… wrong to me." Sean smiled weakly. "Maybe I am just a wimp, maybe I am just abnormal… But I don't want to take any of the Professor's starter pokemon."

Sean's mother smiled back at him. "If that's what's bothering you, you don't have to worry. I'll explain to the Professor that you just aren't ready to start your journey yet."

"I'm sorry, mom. I know I really got everyone's hopes up…" Sean apologized.

Mrs. Moxxi shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I've been pressuring you into going on a journey. Whatever you want to do, I'm perfectly fine with it." She kissed Sean on his forehead. "You're always welcome to stay with me."

Sean blushed, and grew a relieved smile. "I'll go unpack, then." He stood up, and embraced his mother. "Thanks, mom."

Mrs. Moxxi returned the hug, until Sean broke away. "Go ahead, dear. I'll talk to the Professor soon."

Sean nodded to her, and then walked up the stairs to his room. He didn't bother closing the door behind him, and he threw his bag onto his bed. He looked at the photo on his desk, and felt regret pulse through him. "Being normal is overrated, right?" He whispered, and then removed his necklace. At that moment, he heard a knocking at the door, but he ignored it. He hung up his necklace on the wall, and unzipped his bag, ready to unpack his supplies.

"Sean? It's for you, sweetie." Mrs Moxxi called from downstairs.

Sean groaned, and left his bag on his bed. He walked out of his room and jumped down the stairs, surprised to see who was standing at his door. "Professor Hawthorne?" Sean gaped at the visitor.

The Professor entered the house without invitation, and stared right at Sean. "Good morning, Moxxys!" She exclaimed. "I'll cut to the chase. Sean, have you decided on your starter?"

Sean looked at his mother, who simply nodded at him. "Well… No, Professor. But-"

"Ah-ha! I thought you wouldn't! In fact, I was hoping you wouldn't!" The Professor interrupted him. Sean gave her a baffled stare, and she grinned at him. "Well Sean, you don't have to pick a starter pokemon. Because one just chose you."

"You can't go on a journey! I forbid you!" The order echoed through the halls, causing the butlers and maids to turn a blind eye,avoiding the man screaming in rage.

"I don't care dad! I'm gonna follow my dreams!" Responded a younger voice from the front door.

The man stormed down the stairs as the boy finished zipping up his backpack. "If you leave, you are not welcome back here, Matthew."

Matthew stood up and smiled. "Goodbye then father...I don't need you. I have mother's support, and that's all I need." With that, the boy walked out the door, and slammed it behind him, beginning his own journey through the Utreme region.


	2. Chapter 2

The automatic doors of the Pokemon Center slid open, and Sean entered, accompanied by Professor Hawthorne. "Now when you go in, don't smother her. She might get too excited." The professor warned.

"Don't worry. I shouldn't be long." Sean assured. Nurse Joy held open the back door for him, and he creeped in, making sure to be quiet. When he went in, there were less injured pokemon than before. _They really work fast here. _Sean observed. He scanned the dark room, and found her again. She noticed him as well, and he tip-toed over to her, and took a seat beside her. "Hi Ralts." Was all Sean could think to say as he sat.

Ralts looked ecstatic to see Sean again, but it quickly frowned, attempting to seem uninterested. "Ralts."

Sean just smiled. "I was told you wanted to… be my pokemon."

Ralts' cheeks flushed. "Ralts." She breathed.

Sean's smile faded. "I see…" He sighed. "Ralts, I… I don't really… How should I put this…?" Ralts' happiness ebbed. "I don't really want to go on a journey with you."

Ralts was stunned, and she sat still for a while. Then her lip began to quiver, and she hung her head. "R-ralts…"

"Please don't think this is because of you. I had already made this decision. I don't think I'm ready to go on a journey." Sean explained. Ralts took no comfort in his words, and began to cry. "Please Ralts… You don't want me to be your trainer. You'll have to fight other pokemon, and travel around the entire region, and sleep outside… You don't want that, do you?"

Ralts looked up at him with angry, teary eyes, with a look that seemed to say, _You have no idea, do you?_

Sean held his ground. "I know you don't want that. I'm sorry Ralts." Sean leaned in closer to the small white pokemon. "As an apology, I'll take you home when you feel better. Do you live in the forest?" Ralts continued to cry, and shook her head. "Oh… Do you live in the grasslands past the forest?" Ralts shook her head once more, and Sean's eyebrows raised. "Where do you live then?"

Ralts' crying grew more anguished, and she shook her head once more. Sean's eyes widened as understanding washed over him. "...Do you… Not have one?" Ralts looked up into Sean's eyes, and she slowly nodded her head. Sean finally understood, and he looked at the floor. "You've already had to fight other pokemon, haven't you?"

"Ralts…" Ralts cried affirmatively.

Sean felt an overwhelming sense of pity wash over him, and he thought deeply about his next few words. _She's already been on a journey… She's already had to fight…_ Sean closed his eyes. _Dad… Looks like I will be following in your footsteps after all. _"Ralts?" He whispered, and Ralts continued staring at him. Sean opened his eyes, and looked into Ralts'. "Did you seriously want to be my pokemon? Do you want to fight under my command?" Ralts was stunned, and she nodded once. Sean smiled, and he extended his hand to her.

"Well if you mean that… Then I would love to have you accompany me on my journey." Sean offered the surprised Ralts.

Ralts was silent. She had stopped crying, and she stared at Sean's open hand, shocked by his change of heart. But after a few moments, her lips curled into a blissful smile, and she began crying again. She put her small stubby hand into Sean's. "Ralts!" She exclaimed euphorically.

Sean grinned. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Ralts, use confusion!"

Ralts' two red horns began to glow with a blue light, and the rock they had chosen as a makeshift target began to glow as well. "Good job." Sean praised, and patted Ralts' head. Ralts giggled, and blushed as she was praised. It had been two weeks since she had left the pokemon center, and it was like she had never been hurt.

"Alright, time for dinner, you two." Mrs. Moxxy called.

Sean didn't even realize that the sun was going down. He scooped up Ralts and put her on his shoulder as they made their way inside. Waiting for them on the table there was a large assortment of food. "Mom...What's the occasion?" Sean asked.

Mrs. Moxxy just grinned. "Well... you're leaving tomorrow, so I thought we should celebrate tonight."

Sean smiled, and embraced his mother, hugging her tightly. "I love you, mom."

Mrs. Moxxy enthusiastically returned the embrace. "Awww... I love you too, sweetheart. Now let's eat!" She let go of her son, and sat down at the table, reaching for some ramen. Sean set Ralts down on the table next to him, and sat down across from Mrs. Moxxy. He reached for one of the rolls of bread, and set it down in front of Ralts. It looked curiously at it, and looked at Mrs. Moxxy, who smiled at her. "Go ahead! We eat with our pokemon here!"

Ralts smiled, and reached for the roll. Sean reached for one for himself, but when he grabbed it, a blue blur whirred by, and his roll was gone. Sean was paralyzed, and he looked beside his mother, where a Pelipper sat, eating his roll. Sean scowled at the bird, which seemed to be smirking at him. "I can tell you one person I won't miss here…" Sean muttered.

"Pelipper!" It squawked at him.

Mrs. Moxxy chuckled, and Sean grabbed another roll from the table. "Don't hold it against him. He'll miss you as much as I will." She told him.

"Well he has an odd way of showing it." Sean growled, and then reached for his own bowl of ramen. He began to eat all the exquisite meats, breads, vegetables and stuffing his mother set out for him, always making sure to set some out for Ralts. It was all delectable, and Sean could tell that his mother had worked very hard on it.

"Sean?" Mrs. Moxxy called out, once Sean was finished eating.

"Yeah?" He responded.

Sean's mother gave him a loving smile. "I'm proud of you." Sean's eyes widened, and he felt his cheeks getting warmer. "I know that your father is proud of you too."

Sean looked down, a rosy blush now spread across his cheeks. "Thanks. I kinda wish he was here to say it, though."

"You know he would if he was, dear." She insisted.

Ralts gave Sean a confused look. "Ralts?"

"Anyway, me and Ralts should probably head upstairs." Sean dismissed himself.

"I love you." His mother called out to him.

"I love you too." Sean called back, and then scooped Ralts back up, and walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

_Sean turned as images flashed through his head. He felt fear as four black, slender legs stood beside him. He heard vicious snarling coming from above, and then he heard a voice call out from behind the black creature. "That's enough, Houndoom."_

_More fear coursed through him as heavy boots stomped towards him. He felt weak, so weak that he couldn't even lift up his head. He couldn't look up to see what the creatures were, but he could hear the venom in their voices. "There's no need to kill it. It's a waste of your energy." _

_He heard a high-pitched noise, and the black legs turned a bright red, and suddenly vanished. "You poor, pathetic, thing…" He hissed, his voice coming from much closer than before. "You weren't even good experience for Houndoom…" The voice continued to insult, and then began to walk away._

"_Just a waste of my time…"_

Sean woke up with a gasp. He held his hand over his chest, and felt his heart beating at a breakneck pace. "What... What was that?" He looked beside himself, and saw Ralts sound asleep. "That was too vivid to be a nightmare…" He whispered. Just then, his watch began to beep. It read 9:00 am. "Okay...I just...I just need to get ready."

Sean got up quietly, and began to get ready. He spent thirty minutes in the shower, just thinking about the nightmare he had, but he soon remembered that he had to be ready before ten. He got out with a towel around his waist, and went into his room to find that Ralts was still asleep. Sean brushed the back of his hand across her cheek, smiled, and turned away from her, something catching his eye. "What's that?" He walked to his dresser, which now had a box on top of it. He grabbed the box, and proceeded to open it. Inside was a lone note, and some clothes.

The note read: "_I hope these clothes last you a while, love, Mom." _

Sean picked up a shirt from inside the box. "I guess a new look is in order." He put the clothes on one by one, and looked at himself in the mirror. He was now wearing a white t-shirt with a black pokeball insignia on the right breast, in addition to dark brown pants. His shoes were white, and he wore black socks that stretched to his ankles. He slipped on his new red hoodie, which he left unzipped, and he let his necklace rest against his chest. He smiled at himself in the mirror, proud of his outfit.

Sean looked at his watch, and saw that it was ten. "It'll take ten minutes to get to the lab and five minutes to get to the port." Sean turned around, and noticed that Ralts was wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Come on. It's time to head out." He urged her. She jumped out of the bed, eager to get moving. She followed Sean downstairs, where his mother was waiting for him.

Mrs. Moxxy was holding a red, single-strapped bag. "I thought you deserved something new." Sean took the bag from her. "I put all your things in the same pockets they were in in your old one, so you already know where everything is." Sean smiled, and hugged her. "I'm gonna miss you…" She whispered.

"You too. There's no need to worry about me." Sean said goodbye.

"I know." She broke away from Sean, and kissed him on the head. "Now go. Professor Hawthorne is waiting for you."

Sean nodded at her, and turned away, when their moment was rudely interrupted. "Pelipper!" Pelipper squawked from behind Mrs. Moxxy.

Sean was slightly annoyed, but he grinned at the bird pokemon. "See ya later, Pelipper." Pelipper smirked, and blasted his face with hydro pump. Sean was soaked, and he made a very annoyed scowl at Pelipper. "Really? In my new clothes?" He growled. Pelipper squawked happily, proud of himself.

"Pelipper… I just got him those…" Mrs. Moxxy scolded him.

"Pelipper…" Pelipper hung his head.

Suddenly, Sean felt the moisture remove itself from his clothes, and hover in front of him. Sean looked to his side, and saw Ralts levitating the water out of his clothes. Ralts moved the water over to the kitchen sink, and let it drain down it. She then put her hands together, and smiled at Sean. He grinned at her, and pet her head. "And with that, we're out of here." Sean declared, and then turned away. "The next time you two see me… I'll be the champion."

Mrs. Moxxy cringed for a second, as if she had been stabbed. But then her warm smile returned. "I know you will."

With that, Sean walked out of the home he had known for years, and made his way to the pokelab. With Ralts by his side, he walked the short distance around his house, and crossed to grassy road to the lab. Professor Hawthorne was waiting for him, and stood at the entrance with a box in her hand.

"You're finally here!" She seemed even happier than she usually was.

"Yep. You wanted to talk?" Sean asked.

"That's right!" She opened the box, exposing a red piece of machinery.

"What is that?" He took it out of the box.

"This is a pokedex! It scans pokemon and tells you facts about it." She explained. "I forgot that you needed one. Good thing another trainer came to remind me."

Sean opened up the handheld encyclopedia, and it turned on. "Pokedex ready to scan." It said in a robotic male voice.

"Whoa... This is-" Sean stopped when he heard a loud whistle go off twice.

"It seems you have ten minutes before the ship leaves dock." The professor looked at her watch.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Sean saw the time on his own wristwatch. "Ugh, Thank you so much Professor. Goodbye!" He began to sprint away with Ralts desperately trying to hold onto his shoulder.

Sean ran with all his might until he came to the ship, where people were already boarding. The line was moving quickly, and he very quickly gave the bouncer his ticket. When Sean walked up the ramp, he saw lots of people of varying ages, walking back and forth across the large deck. Sean saw the front desk, and began making his way towards it, when suddenly, a blur of purple and blue bolted past him. Almost instantaneously, a mob of girls were storming in Sean's direction.

"AH!" He leapt to the right, and the girls passed him by. "Sheesh… you all right, Ralts?"

Ralts was barely hanging onto Sean's shoulder. "Ralts…" It squeaked.

"Yeah. I hope that guy can run fast enough too, Ralts." Sean went to the front desk to get his room key. It went very smoothly, and soon he located his small cabin and sat on the bed. "Well Ralts… We're on our way to Iko town." He looked out the window, and took one last look at his hometown. "Wave goodbye to Relgo Island. I don't think we'll be back for a while." Even though he was smiling, a single tear slid down Sean's cheek.

As soon as the tear fell, he felt a small hand brush it off of his face. He turned to see Ralts smiling comfortingly at him. "Ralts."

Sean smiled back at her, and then looked back outside. His mother was now standing at the dock, watching the boat depart. "You're right. I'll keep my promise." He grinned confidently. "When we're the champions, we'll come back. She'll just have to wait until then."

The whistle of the boat signaled their departure, and very shortly after they took off, Sean and Ralts were fast asleep yet again.

Sean woke from his sleep with a start. Night had fallen, and the cold air hit him from the window. He closed the port hole and laid back down, but he couldn't fall back asleep. He looked to Ralts, who was out cold, and smiled before standing. Deciding he could no longer fall asleep, Sean slipped into his hoodie, and left his room. After making a stop at the bathroom, he walked to the main deck which he had expected to be empty. To his great surprise, he was mistaken.

Soon Sean could hear singing, and even though it was eerie, something told him to go towards it. He walked to the front of the ship where he saw a boy who was obviously the source of the song. Sean listened carefully.

"_The sun, the moon, the clouds are one and soon they will meet..." _

The boy's skin looked evenly tanned and his smile was warm and held excitement.

"_When they do, I'll have you by my side..." _

Two things that stood out about him were his purple spiked hair and his eyes, one was light blue and the other was brown.

"_Evil's reign will end in defeat..." _

The song gave Sean an odd feeling. He felt as if the boy was singing directly to him.

"_Because the fate of the world, is ours to decide..." _

The boy stopped singing and turned towards Sean, who was now hiding so he wouldn't be seen.

_Who is that boy? _He thought as he hid.

The boy stood up, and sighed loudly, intending for Sean to hear. "Sheesh. I can't even practice singing without you girls stalking me." He rudely stated, and then walked towards Sean's hiding spot. Sean didn't want to be yelled at, so he took off towards his cabin, the boy making no attempt to pursue him.

Sean bolted into his cabin, and locked the door behind him. He sat down on his bed, his breathing very erratic. He laid back down on his bed, suddenly finding it much easier to fall asleep.

"What do you mean by that?" The girl asked in confusion.

"Look Jenna, your designs are... good... but they lack any real spirit and you kept them safe. You didn't try anything new."

"B...But…"

"That's why I think you should see the region. All of it."

"What?" The girl breathed.

"Go on a journey, Jenna. Take your pokemon, and travel all around the region. Don't come back until you've explored every last cave."

"But what about me being your apprentice?"

"You'll still be my apprentice, but I want you to gain some experience. I'm only the designer I am today because I went on a journey." The woman placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just think about it Jenna."

Jenna sighed. "Fine... I'll think about it."

Sean looked out over the rail of the ship with a smile as the first stop came into view. "There it is, Ralts. Secram City, famous for its restaurants."

A shimmer of curiosity flashed in Ralts' eyes. "Ralts?" She questioned.

"I guess you wouldn't know what a restaraunt is, huh?" Sean realised out loud. "Don't worry, I'll treat you to one soon enough." Ralts smiled and began clapping its small white hands together, which caused Sean to start laughing.

His laughing was interrupted by the ship's horn blowing, and the captain yelling, "First stop, Secram City!"

Sean released the guard railing. "We'll be taking the train to the next town. The train won't be taking us to Becker Town until tomorrow, so we might as well explore before sunset. We'll head to Iko Town from there." Sean walked down the crowded ramp onto the city's port, occasionally glancing around himself for the purple haired boy. After he failed to find him, Sean shrugged, and began walking through the streets of the new city.

Secram City was filled to the brim with wealthy-looking citizens, who were hastily running about, hurrying to their next destination. Sean and Ralts strolled past multiple gift shops, Pokemarts, and restaurants, until Sean's stomach overwhelmed him. He pulled out his wallet, and checked to see how much money he had. "I can probably afford this. Come on Ralts, I'll teach you what a restaurant is." He offered. Ralts continued following him as he picked out the most exquisite-looking restaurant, and began approaching its doors. "Come on. I'm sure they'll have something for you too."

Sean was about to reach out for the door handle when he heard a young voice call out behind him, "Hey! You with the red coat!"

Sean quickly turned to face the shrill voice, and he found a young boy charging towards him. The boy looked at least three years younger than Sean, and was wearing a yellow t-shirt, with a pair of blue shorts, and a matching blue hat, which he was wearing backwards. The boy had shimmering green eyes, and short brown hair which was neatly tucked under his hat. "Umm… Can I help you?" Sean asked, wondering why the boy had stopped him.

The boy stopped in front of him, and grinned up at him. "You were riding the boat too, right?" He asked.

"Um… Yes?" Sean answered, puzzled by the question.

"So that means you're on a journey too, right?" The boy continued to interview.

"Yes…" Sean responded.

"And since you have a Ralts with you, that means you're a trainer too!"

"Yes, I am a trainer." Sean answered, starting to become annoyed.

The boy grinned confidently, and pulled a Poke ball out of his pocket. "Well my name is Will! And I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" He declared with the utmost of confidence.

Sean was surprised, and it showed through his face. Ralts looked at him curiously, and he scratched his head nervously. "Yeah… You see, I've never battled anyone before, and I'm not sure if Ralts here is ready for that…" He attempted to escape the situation.

Will's eyes lit up. "You're a rookie? Well have no fear! I'll be your teacher!"

Realizing there was no escape, Sean sighed, and looked down at Ralts. "Do you think you're ready to battle?" He fretted.

"Patrat! I choose you!" Will shouted, not waiting for Sean. He threw his Poke ball forward, and it opened, shooting forward a beam of white light, which then formed into a small, brown rodent, with piercing red and yellow eyes.

"Patrat!" It squeaked, and then stood up on its hind legs.

Ralts stared at Sean, and then at the opposing pokemon, and then nodded. "Ralts." She answered.

Sean smiled, and then turned to Will. "We accept your challenge. Ralts, I choose you!"

Will grinned, and pointed at Ralts. "Alright Patrat! Use tackle!" He ordered.

Patrat lowered onto all fours, and charged at Ralts head first. "Ralts, evade to the right!" Sean shouted without hesitation. Ralts sprang to the right, and Patrat completely missed its mark. It screeched to a halt, and Sean seized the opportunity. "Quickly! Use confusion!"

Ralts' horns began to glow blue, and Patrat was knocked backwards by an unseen force. "Trat!" It squeaked in pain.

"Don't give up, Patrat! Use tackle again!" Will cried out.

Patrat got back onto all fours, and began charging at Ralts a second time. "Ralts, use confusion again before it reaches you!" Sean called out.

Ralts obeyed, and her horns lit up once more. Patrat had almost reached Ralts when the unseen force struck it again, stopping it dead in its tracks. "Patrat!" It cried out once more, before falling onto its back, and falling unconscious.

Will seemed utterly shocked, and he stared at his fainted pokemon. Ralts smiled at her handiwork, and looked over at Sean, who was now grinning ear to ear. Will pulled out his Poke Ball, and clicked the button on it once. "Patrat, return!" He reluctantly ordered, and a red beam shot out of the ball, taking Patrat back inside.

Ralts ran back over to Sean, who pet its head happily. "Amazing work, Ralts. Now we've definitely earned that restaurant trip." Ralts smiled at him, and put her hands together.

"Tepig! I choose you!" Will yelled, and threw another Poke Ball forward, which released a small black and orange pig pokemon, with a small red ball for a tail. Sean looked down at Ralts, nodded once at her, and stood up straight. Ralts turned back to her opponent, and readied herself. "Tepig! Use tackle!" Will shouted, confidence no longer radiating from his voice. As soon as he said it, Tepig charged at Ralts, much faster than Patrat.

"Ralts! Jump out of the way!" Sean declared.

Ralts tried to jump out of the way, but she was too slow. Tepig rammed into her small body, and sent her flying away. She cried out in pain, but quickly forced herself to her feet. "Tepig! Use tackle again!" Will shouted with confidence. Tepig immediately kicked up the dirt in front of itself, and began running towards Ralts a second time.

Sean gritted his teeth, not wanting his pokemon to be hurt again. "Quick! Use confusion!" Ralts did as he said, and her horns began to glow blue. The invisible force struck Tepig, but even though it winced in pain, it continued its assault. It slammed into Ralts once more, again sending her flying away.

"Ralts!" She cried out as she rolled away. When she came to a halt lying on her stomach, she struggled to push herself up, clearly running out of energy.

_She can't take much more… _Sean thought fearfully. "Ralts! Hang in there alright? Use confusion again!"

"Tepig! It's almost over! Use tail whip!" Will called out to his pokemon.

Ralts steadied her breath, and lit up her horns again. At the same time, Tepig turned around, and began to wag its tail at Ralts. As the unseen force once again struck Tepig, Ralts seemed to relax, and her horns stopped glowing. _If Ralts gets hit now, it's over._ Sean thought warily.

"Finish it off, Tepig!" Will chanted. "Use tackle one more time!"

Tepig snorted once, and then began its charge towards Ralts. Sean cringed, and began to yell. "Ralts!"

Sean was about to issue an order to Ralts, but suddenly, without any direction, Ralts lit up her horns. Without attacking, Ralts waited for Tepig to be within striking distance, and then she leapt into the air, hurdling over Tepig. Without even waiting to land, Ralts let out her attack, striking Tepig from the air. The force knocked Tepig over onto its back, and after struggling for a small period of time, it passed out, no longer conscious. Ralts landed a few feet away, and then turned around to face Sean and the defeated Tepig.

Sean and Will both stood with their mouths wide open, absolutely stunned by Ralts' final maneuver. "...Tepig, return!" Will called out, and clicked once on his Poke Ball, the red beam once more shooting out to retake Tepig.

Ralts ran over to Sean again, and looked up at him, grinning ear to ear. After recovering from his shock, Sean reached down, and embraced the small white pokemon. "That was amazing! We won our first ever battle, Ralts!" He praised her, and she beamed back at him. As he was holding Ralts, Sean looked over at Will, who was looking down at the ground. "Hey, Will, you alright?" Sean asked sympathetically.

Will suddenly cocked his head up to Sean, grinning like a fool. "That was incredible! How did you teach your Ralts to do that?

Sean looked at Ralts with a prying stare, and then looked back at Will. "I… Don't know." He replied.

"Well whether you know or not, it was awesome!" Will reached into his pocket, grabbed something from it, and ran over to Sean. He opened up Sean's hand, and dropped 200 pokedollars in it. "Here, take it! It's your prize money!"

Sean looked down at his hand, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Um… Ok?"

Will raised up his finger in a matter-of-fact way. "Everyone knows that when you defeat another trainer in battle, you receive prize money!"

"Haha… Yeah… Everyone knows that…" Sean responded sheepishly.

"Well now that you know that, you're officially a pokemon trainer!" Will concluded, and then turned and began to run off. "It was great battling with you! Make sure to get your Ralts healed up!"

"Wait!" Sean called after him, but he was already gone. Sean now stood alone with his Ralts, completely stunned by the rapid pace of events. After standing idle for a few more seconds, he regained his senses, and set Ralts back on the ground. He pulled out his wallet, and deposited his prize money into it.

"Ralts?" His Ralts questioned, looking up at him.

"Haha, now we're definitely taking a trip to this restaurant." Sean answered, his throat parched. He was ready to walk inside, when he took another look at his pokemon, who seemed to be in pain. "Oh… hold up a second. I've got something for you." Ralts eyed him curiously, while Sean reached inside his bag. He dug around inside of the left pocket for a little while, before removing a white and purple spray bottle. "Come here, Ralts. I'll heal you." Ralts complied, and Sean bent down and held the bottle in front of her. "This might sting a little bit." Sean warned, and then sprayed Ralts with the medicine.

"Ralts!" She winced in pain as the medicine was sprayed onto her wounds. Ralts shivered for a few seconds, but then looked up at Sean curiously, as her wounds almost instantly began to heal.

"There. Doesn't that feel better?" Sean asked with a smile on his face. Ralts gave him a mystified look, as Sean scooped her up in his arms again. "Come on. You've been so good, I'll treat you to the best restaurant in town." With Ralts smiling blissfully in his arms, Sean began walking around the streets of Secram, searching for the finest food in the luxurious town.

The next day, Sean and Ralts left their previously bought hotel room, checked out at the front desk, and caught the afternoon train. Sean entered it with a smile. "This is amazing." He muttered to Ralts, who was once again sitting on his shoulder. The train had an elizabethan interior with chandeliers, and older looking furniture. Sean walked through the train cars, looking around himself with a small smile on his face. He found two open seats near the back of the car he was in, and took them, setting Ralts on the seat across from him. After about fifteen minutes, the train began to chug away.

"Ralts!" She exclaimed as she watched the scenery outside quickly go by.

Sean chuckled at her excitement. "It is nice." He looked outside himself, and was awed by the beauty of the lake outside of the train. "You know Ralts, I've never been on a train before today." He randomly informed his pokemon.

"Ralts?" Ralts queried, turning away from the window.

"Yeah. Me and my mom never really left the island. Well, she did." Sean sighed wearily. "I've been… a little reclusive for the past three years."

"Ralts…" Ralts whispered, suddenly looking depressed.

Sean looked over to her, and then smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. I'm much better now." He assured her. Ralts smiled back at him, and he looked back out the window. "This is your first time too, huh? We're both getting to try new things on this journey."

Sean and Ralts stopped their talking, and became immersed in the world outside. They were so distracted that they didn't notice that someone had abandoned their seat, and was standing beside them.

"Is this seat taken?"

Sean cocked his head to the side, and gasped as he recognized the boy. It was the boy he had fled from two nights ago on the ship to Secram City. The boy was now wearing a long sleeved blue and purple striped shirt, white pants with tears in them, a blue converse, and a silver ring with a blue stone in it. "N-No…" Sean stuttered.

The boy smiled before sitting down directly beside Sean, and pulling a book out of his white satchel. He began to write, and Sean sat awkwardly beside him. Ralts didn't seem to take notice of the boy, and continued to look out the window. Sean was completely silent, and continued to ignore the stranger and look at the world around him. After a few seconds, the boy began to mumble to himself.

"Um… Are you alright?" Sean asked, feeling awkward.

"Huh?" The boy looked up.

"You were mumbling about something… Are you okay?"

"Ralts?" Ralts said in confusion, looking away from the window..

The boy dropped his book and pen, and leapt from his seat to Ralts' with a shimmer in his eyes. "It's a Ralts! Oh my gosh she's SOOOOOO cute!" He yelled out, causing Ralts to flinch. The boy reached towards her and touched one of her horns, causing her to jerk back and instinctively use confusion. Soon, the boy fell onto the floor with an absent smile spread across his face.

Sean knelt by the boy on the floor. "I'm sorry! Ralts gets nervous around strangers..."

As if he hadn't just been knocked from his chair, the boy nonchalantly sat back in his seat. "It's fine, my fault." He held out his hand towards Sean with a kind grin on his face. "My name is Matthew. But please, call me Matt."

Sean politely took Matt's hand and shook it. "I'm Sean…"

"Your Ralts is adorable!" Matt immediately carried on.

"...Thank you." Sean felt even more awkward than when Matt was silent.

Matt paused, and looked closely at Sean. "Wait a sec...You're the one Professor Hawthorne told me about! She did say you were really nice. So you're the one who refused to take a starter pokemon until one came to you!"

"Haha… She sure told you a lot about me." While it wasn't a lot of information, Sean didn't like the thought of someone talking behind his back. "So, you're just starting out?"

"Yep! I took the ship from my home in Galit City to your island, so I could get a pokedex." He spoke confidently.

"What starter did you choose?"

"Well, my starter was a bit unusual. I saved him two years ago...from poachers." He smiled, but Sean could feel the disgust that he felt when he mentioned the word poacher.

"Well, lets meet him then." Sean desperately wanted to change the subject.

Matt pulled two Poke Balls from his belt, and clicked them, causing them to enlarge. "Feebas! Vulpix! Spotlight!"

A white beam shot from both Poke Balls in the air. They formed into a brown, spotted, fish-like pokemon, and a red fox with six tails. Vulpix stood elegantly on the table in between the seats, while Feebas laid on its side on the floor.

"Ummm... doesn't he need water?" Sean asked, staring at the Feebas.

"Not for a while. I trained Feebas to stay out of the water for at least an hour when he's not in his Poke Ball." Matt explained.

"That's amazing." Sean said in awe. He reached his hand out towards Feebas, and pet the blue fin on its head, causing it to smile.

Matt picked Vulpix up. "I just caught her recently. She's a rowdy one."

Vulpix jumped out of Matt's grip, and ran up to Ralts. Ralts backed away in fear, and attempted to run, but Vulpix pursued her with a smile, believing it was a game. Sean smiled at the display, and Matt began chuckling. After a short chase, Vulpix had pinned down Ralts, and was licking it affectionately. "Vuuulpix." She purred as she groomed Ralts.

"Alright, Vulpix. Leave the poor thing alone." Matt called out, and Vulpix jumped back onto the seat with Matt and Sean.

"Come here, Ralts. These people don't want to hurt you." Sean assured his pokemon. Hesitantly, Ralts walked back over to the seat, and crawled onto Sean's lap, never removing its eyes from Vulpix and Matt. "I don't think you two made a very good impression…" Sean sighed.

Matt chuckled loudly, and Vulpix walked over to Sean, and crawled onto his lap beside Ralts. Ralts glared at her, and Vulpix simply curled up on Sean's lap. "Well, you two seem to have made a good impression on Vulpix and Feebas."

Sean seemed uncomfortable as Vulpix lay on him, and Ralts continued to glare at her. After another minute of icy silence, the train screeched to a halt, and the conductor spoke. "We have arrived at Becker Town. Please watch your step as other passengers enter the train."

Sean breathed a sigh of relief, and he nodded at Ralts. "This is our stop." He said to Matt.

"Really? It's ours too!" He exclaimed, and then motioned for Vulpix to get off of Sean, which she did.

"Oh… Really?" Sean muttered, and then scooped up Ralts.

"Return!" Matt shouted, and then clicked his two Poke Balls, which shot a red beam towards Vulpix and Feebas, and brought them back into the balls. He looked expectantly at Sean, who was now carrying Ralts away from him. "You don't put her in a Poke Ball?" He asked.

Sean looked over his shoulder at Matt. "No. I don't. I don't think Ralts likes it."

"Huh. Never thought about it like that. I feel that they appreciate not having to walk, especially Feebas." Matt joked. "Also, you have to keep them like that sometimes. Like for gym battles or contests."

"Yeah, I know." Sean said dismissively, before turning to walk out the train door onto the streets of Becker Town. He began to walk away, when Matt called out after him.

"Wait!" He called out, and ran up to Sean. Sean turned back around, and saw Matt scratching his purple hair awkwardly. "So, um… Where are you off to?"

Sean looked into his eyes calmly. "We're going to find a place to stay tonight. Then tomorrow we're going to Iko Town."

"Oh… Well… Don't be a stranger, ok?" Matt sheepishly dismissed himself.

"See ya around." Sean said goodbye, and then turned and walked into town.

"Ralts?" Ralts asked him as he carried her.

"Yeah. He was a little strange." Sean answered her. "So where should we stay tonight, Ralts?" He changed the subject. "Maybe we shou-"

Sean lost his ability to speak as a young, blonde-haired girl slammed into him. He nearly dropped Ralts, and then stared at the new person, annoyed at her lack of attention. The girl stared up at him with apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry, sir!" She apologized hastily, before she brushed past him, and continued walking.

Sean stared after her as she walked, still rather annoyed. "Rude…" He grumbled. He then continued walking, looking for the nearest place to stay. "Iko Town has a pokemon gym in it. Do you think you can handle that, Ralts?"

Ralts looked at him with confidence. "Ralts." It declared.

Sean chuckled. "Why do I even ask?" He picked out a large building in town, and proceeded to walk towards it. "Come on. They can point us in the right direction."

Without thinking anything of it, Sean entered the large building, blissfully unaware of the multiple people who were watching his every move.


	3. Chapter 3

_Sean ran as fast as he could. He ran and ran and ran, but no matter how far he ran, he couldn't get away. Not from them. _

_He ran as far as he could, until he came to a solid black wall. He pushed on it, banged on it, and punched it, but it wouldn't budge. There was no escape. Slowly, he turned around, and sure enough, they were still there._

_The eyes. The multiple sets of red, malevolent eyes watching him. They glared at him, watching his every move. No matter what he did, he couldn't escape. A low, growling sound came from the darkness the eyes inhabited. Suddenly, before Sean could react, one of the sets roared at him, and lunged straight at him, faster than he could react. There was no escape._

Sean gasped violently and shot upright. "Wh-What was that?" He panted. He looked over to his left to see Ralts sleeping with a small smile. "Another nightmare… Why am I-"

He was interrupted by his watch's alarm, which caused ralts to turn over grumpily. "Ralts…"

Sean quickly shook the thought from his head and began to focus on Ralts. "Come on, girl. It's time to head to Iko Town." He poked her cheek playfully, and finally Ralts sat up.

"I'm going to take a shower, so you stay here and watch T.V. for a bit." He turned on the television before turning to grab his clothes.

"Ralts…?" She questioned him sleepily.

Sean sighed. "I'll explain what a shower is on the way to Iko Town." He then grabbed his clothes, and continued towards the bathroom. After a brief, invigorating shower, Sean dressed himself, and exited the bathroom. When he came out, he found Ralts was sound asleep.

"Not ready yet, huh?" Sean joked. Ralts shot up at the sound of his voice, and Sean began to chuckle. " Would you prefer if we waited here for a while?" Sean asked compassionately.

Ralts shook her head vigorously. "R-Ralts!" She insisted. Sean chuckled, and then he picked up his partner, put on his bag, and left the hotel room. As soon as they had checked out of the hotel, Sean picked out the nearest route out of town, and began to travel along it.

It was a very rural trail, which contrasted greatly with the previous urban city. The route had many large patches of tall grass, which Sean took special care to avoid. The trail became more and more overgrown as they walked along, and soon, they were traveling through a dense forest. After clambering through the tall grasses, low branches, and thorny bushes, the duo came to a clearing. The clearing led to a flowery hilltop, and Sean walked to its peak. Sean looked over the cliff, and got a bird's eye view of the town he had just left. The cool breeze at the top of the hill, along with the blue sky and flowers at his feet, caused Sean to smile.

"Isn't it beautiful, Ralts?" He looked to his shoulder, expecting a response, but the small pokemon was fast asleep. Sean sighed, and pulled out a miniature red-and-white sphere. "Okay, you rest. After all, we have an important battle coming up." Sean clicked the button on the center of the poke ball, causing it to grow in size, and then open up. It shot a red beam of light at Ralts, and then sucked her inside of it, closing once more. Sean put the poke ball in his bag's pocket, and then turned to continue walking.

After two hours of nonstop travel, Sean reached a suburban town, with a very ancient feel to it. The buildings were made of light wood, and had sliding doors all throughout them. There was a stone fountain in the middle of the town, and several large wooden towers. Even the pokemon center appeared to have an ancient look to it. "I hear there's a famous priestess here." Sean commented to himself. "Maybe I should take Ralts to see her."

Sean walked into the rust-colored pokemon center, and took note of its wooden interior. There didn't appear to be any machinery, and there was only a sliding door behind the wooden counter. A kimono-wearing Nurse Joy was working with her Audino, and Sean approached them. "Excuse me, Nurse. Can I get my Ralts healed please?"

"Of course." Nurse Joy responded with a smile.

"Dino!" Audino added in.

Sean handed her his poke ball, and she took it into the back room. She came back only a few seconds later. "Sir… Your Ralts is in optimal condition." She reported, and then smiled. "A word of advice, you might want to wait until Ralts is actually in need of healing next time."

"Oh… Sorry." Embarrassed, Sean walked back outside, and began searching for the gym.

The rustic town contained a large market, one hotel, and of course, a large shrine. Sean searched the hotel and market, but there wasn't a gym in sight. He walked through the entire town twice, attempting to find any buildings that stood out. He assumed that one of the towers would hold the answers, but they were off-limits to trainers. He looked for almost an hour, but his efforts were fruitless. Defeated, he sat down on a bench, and reclined against it. "Maybe I should just ask somebody…" He sighed.

Suddenly, a white beam shot out of his bag, and Ralts appeared beside him. "Raaaaalts!" She yawned.

"Welcome back to the world of the waking. I'm having a lot of trouble finding the gym." Ralts looked around herself and just shrugged. She placed her tiny white hand over her stomach, and made an unhappy face at Sean. He understood, and stood up. "Well, let's find a place to eat." Sean picked her up, and began to walk through the town once more. He passed multiple wooden houses, and soon came to large, colosseum-esque building. "I think this is one of those contest halls." Sean observed the large building for a little while longer, and the small crowd of people entering it. While it wasn't by any means a large group of people, it was the largest crowd he'd seen in the town.

While scanning through the crowd, his eyes locked onto one specific person. It was a young girl, no older than 11, yet she had long, flowing blonde hair. Her bright brown eyes were boring through Sean's skull, and he turned to face her. She looked familiar, and he knew he'd seen her before, but he couldn't put his finger on when or where. _Who is tha- _He questioned, but then it came to him. It was the girl who bumped into him yesterday. The girl seemed to only now notice that he was looking at her, and her pale cheeks burned a bright red. Before Sean could say anything, she spun around, and fled. _Okay. That was weird. _Sean shrugged it off, and walked away from the contest hall to find a place to eat.

Now knowing the layout of the town as if it was his own, Sean walked over to a quiet, secluded hill. He sat down on it, and let Ralts sit beside him. He pulled a small lunch out of his bag, and began to eat. He pulled out two sandwiches, and handed one to Ralts, who struggled to hold it. As she took small, hungry bites, Sean pulled out some water for him and his pokemon. They enjoyed their small meal, and after a few bites, Ralts scarfed down her meal. After the main course, Sean pulled out a bag of macaroons his mother had made for him, and he shared them with Ralts. After their meal, Sean sighed, and look down at Ralts.

"There might not be a gym here afterall." Sean told her in a somber voice. While he was disappointed, he also felt relieved. He was nervous that he wasn't ready, or Ralts would get hurt.

"Ral..." Ralts, on the other hand, seemed completely disappointed.

Sean noticed her sadness, and he attempted to lighten her mood. "You know what, let's go to the shrine, and see if the priestess is there." Sean picked up their trash, and walked towards the large hill near the market. The hill appeared far steeper up close than it had from their lunch area. "The nice lady at the shop said this led to the shrine, so let's go."

Sean began his agonizing ascent up the hill, only taking short breaks. After the first few steps, Sean put Ralts on his shoulder, not wishing for her to have to walk. After quite a challenging climb, he made it to a flat plain. He instantly collapsed to catch his breath. Ralts climbed down from her trainer's shoulder, and patted his back, attempting to make him feel better. "...Thanks… Ralts..." After allowing himself to recover, Sean picked Ralts back up, and began walking towards the red shrine.

Sean stopped in front of it, and knelt down. "When you come to a shrine like this, you're supposed to pray to show your respects to those who have passed." Sean put his hands together and closed his eyes, and Ralts mimicked him. When Sean finished his small prayer, he looked to Ralts, who was pretending she knew what she was doing. "Ralts, you can stop now." She stopped immediately, and looked back up at Sean.

"Hello." Came an unknown voice from behind them. Sean turned around, and saw a woman with a long, black ponytail, and brown eyes. She was wearing a white kimono, and a red hakama. She looked like she had walked out of a folktale. "How may I help you, young one?"

The woman had a powerful presence to her, and Sean felt incredibly small next to her. Ralts cowered behind Sean's leg, seemingly scared of the woman. Sean was speechless for a few seconds, but then he found his voice. "Um, I just wanted to visit the shrine with my pokemon."

"Oh. Well, thank you for your visit." She bowed to him. She walked by him, and was about to enter the shrine, but she stopped suddenly. "Would you happen to be a pokemon trainer? Are you on a journey?"

Sean was a bit thrown off by the question. "Um, yes… I could have sworn there was a gym in this town." He laughed nervously.

The woman looked straight at Sean. "Well, you thought correctly."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "Really? Where is it?" Sean was desperate for answers at this point.

"You're standing right over it. Follow me." She opened the door of the small building behind the shrine. Sean picked up Ralts, and followed her closely. The lady led him to another door, with a large amount of stairs behind it, leading downwards.

"Watch your step." She warned him.

They walked down the endless stairs for a few minutes, before coming to the bottom where a large metal door was waiting for them. She opened it effortlessly, and exposed a rather large dojo, where people were training in karate uniforms. Some of them were training with their fists, while others were training their pokemon. All of them stopped and turns their heads as Sean entered the room. "Clear the floor! We have a challenger!" The woman called out. Within seconds, everyone had left the battle floor, and ran to the sidelines. A man in a karate uniform with a black belt around his waist walked into the center of the stadium.

"A battle will now begin between Sensei Usagi, and a new challenger! Each trainer is permitted two pokemon each. Sensei, the floor is yours!" He bowed respectfully, before walking to the sidelines like everyone else.

Sean felt incredibly nervous, and he scratched his head. "Haha… So, who is this Usagi?" He asked timidly.

The woman standing beside Sean chuckled loudly, and Sean turned to face her. She smirked at him, and flipped her ponytail. "You're looking at her."

Sean's eyes widened, and Usagi walked into the arena, taking her side. She stared at him expectantly, seemingly anxious. Now knowing his opponent, Sean suddenly felt weak-kneed, and he began to feel afraid. "Uh… S-sure…" He whispered. He nervously took his side, Ralts standing in front of him.

Usagi smiled at him. "Are you ready?"

Sean gulped, and looked around himself. Everyone's eyes were on him, and he began to choke under pressure. "R-ralts… Maybe we shouldn't…" He began to whisper.

Ralts turned to look at him over her shoulder, and smiled. She nodded her head once, and then turned back to face Usagi. Sean's nervousness began to melt away, and he mentally punched himself. _She wants to battle… She wants to win for me… What am I so nervous about? _He scolded himself.

"Are you ready, challenger?" Usagi repeated.

Sean brushed his brown hair out of his face, and locked eyes with Usagi. "Absolutely."

She grinned, and then stood completely upright. "I have to admit, I'm a little excited. I haven't gotten a challenger in quite some time." She narrowed her eyes at Sean. "Well, challenger, I assume you heard my name. So would you be kind enough to tell us yours?"

Sean smiled back at her. "Sean Moxxy." He stated confidently.

Usagi grinned. "Very well then, challenger Sean. I, Usagi, gym leader of Iko Town, hereby accept your challenge!" She declared, and then pulled a poke ball out of her sleeve. "Machop! I choose you!" She yelled, and hurled the poke ball forward.

"Ralts! Let's go!" Sean shouted.

"Ralts!" Ralts chanted, clearly fired up.

The poke ball Usagi threw popped open, and a white light formed into a small, blue, muscular pokemon. "Maaaachop!" The pokemon cried out. The crowd of black belts erupted into applause, excited for the match.

"Ralts! Use confusion!" Sean cried out.

"Machop! Use focus energy!" Usagi yelled.

Machop took a breath, and stared intently at Ralts. "Maaaaaachop!" It cried, before it was hit by Ralts' attack. It staggered backwards, but then steadied itself.

_I should've known it wouldn't be that easy… _Sean thought to himself. "Ralts! Use double team!"

"Ralts!" Ralts called back, and began creating images of herself.

"Machop! Low kick!" Usagi ordered her pokemon.

Faster than Sean could even see, Machop charged at Ralts, and kicked out her legs. "Ralts!" She cried out in surprise, and collapsed onto her back.

"Ralts! Use confusion!" Sean commanded.

Ralts flipped back onto her feet, and her horn began glowing blue. "Machop! Use karate chop!" Usagi quickly ordered.

Machop once more closed the distance between itself and Ralts, seemingly unfazed by the illusions Ralts had created. "Machop!" It yelled, and then chopped Ralts straight on its head.

"Ralts!" She screeched in pain, and then leapt backwards.

_Ugh… That one really hurt… _Sean winced.

As soon as Ralts had escaped from Machop's onslaught, she lit up her horn, and unleashed her psychic force. The force struck true, and seemed to devastate the opposing pokemon. "Maaaaachop!" It wailed, before collapsing, and losing consciousness.

The crowd on the sidelines went silent. Sean breathed a sigh of relief, and Ralts seemed to as well. "Great job, Ralts!" He cheered her. Ralts turned to smile at him, but she was breathing heavily. Sean's relief faded. _She's in bad shape… Was that her only pokemon?_

"Machop, return!" Usagi called out, and then called Machop back into its poke ball. She gave Sean an excited grin, suddenly very energetic. "What's with the face? We're just getting started!"

_...Of course it wasn't. _

"Sawk! Let's do it!" She called out, and threw forward a completely white poke ball.

The white ball emitted a white light, which then became a skinny, blue pokemon, wearing a white gi. "Sawk!" He said in a gruff voice.

"Ralts! Use double team again!" Sean ordered his pokemon. Ralts complied, and began making more illusions of herself.

"Sawk! Bulk up!" Usagi chanted.

"Sawk!" The blue pokemon chanted back, and then tensed up his muscles. He began to glow red, and he seemed to grow more muscular.

_That's not good… I have to make sure Ralts doesn't get hit anymore! _Sean told himself. "Ralts! Double team once more!"

"Ralts!" She cried, and then began making even more illusions.

Usagi grinned wildly. "Sawk! Use double kick!"

Sawk charged at Ralts, and leapt into the air. "Saaaaaawk!" He roared, and then kicked at Ralts with both of his legs extended. But Sawk harmlessly passed through one of Ralts' illusions.

Sean smiled. "Ralts! Confusion!"

The dozens of Ralts clones all lit up their horns, and mentally lashed out at Sawk. "Sawk!" He winced in pain as he was hit.

"Shake it off, Sawk! Use low sweep!" Usagi yelled very loudly.

Sawk stood back up, and took a guess at his next target. "Sawk!" He huffed, and then kicked at his target's feet, only to pass through another illusion. Visibly flustered, he looked back at Usagi.

Seizing the opportunity, Sean commanded, "Ralts! Use confusion again!"

"Ralts!" She answered him, and then lit up her horn, as all the other clones did. She unleashed her psychic attack, expecting to finish the fight. But, milliseconds before impact, Sawk leapt out of harm's way. In addition to avoiding the attack, Sawk locked his eyes onto the true Ralts.

Usagi's eyes narrowed, and she grinned devilishly. "Sawk! Hit it with a low sweep!"

"Ralts! Confusion!" Sean cried out desperately.

This time, as Ralts prepared her attack, Sawk charged straight past her multitude of clones. He ran straight up to her, and then swept her away with a powerful kick. "Sawk!" He cried angrily.

"Ralts!" She shrieked, as she was sent spiraling away. She struggled back up to her feet, and lit up her horn once more.

"Sawk! One more low sweep should do it!" Usagi cheered.

Sawk charged once more at Ralts, not letting up his assault. "Saaaawk!" He howled, once more attempting to kick the small pokemon.

With all of her remaining strength, Ralts hurled herself out of Sawk's way, narrowly avoiding his kick. She got up as quickly as she could, and then unleashed her unseen attack. But Sawk was ready once more, and he leapt over the invisible attack. "Urggh…" Sean growled.

"Sawk! Try another low sweep!" Usagi called again.

Sawk landed gracefully, and then sprinted towards Ralts. "Ralts!" She yelled, and then leapt into the air to avoid him, as she had against Tepig. But as she descended towards the ground, Sawk wheeled around, and leapt straight towards her.

"Saaaaaawk!" He screamed as he charged at her, his foot ready to slam her back to the ground.

Sean snapped out of his temporary stupor, and screamed, "Ralts! Teleport out of the way!"

Ralts' horn lit up, and her entire body began to glow blue. "Ralts!" She cried, and then vanished. She reappeared on the ground, looking up at Sawk, who was now tumbling through the air.

"...Uh oh." Usagi muttered.

"Confusion!" Sean ordered, which Ralts did before he could even finish yelling. The psychic force struck Sawk as he was still in the air, knocking him even further away.

"Awk!" Sawk cried as he tumbled back to the ground, landing rather harshly.

"Hang in there, Sawk!" Usagi called out, her enthusiasm beginning to wane.

"Did that do it?" Sean whispered. But his fears were realised, as Sawk forced himself back to his feet. Although he was panting, and badly injured, he still seemed determined to win the battle.

Usagi smiled once again. "Sawk! One more time!" She commanded.

Sawk was already running before she had even finished talking. "Ralts! Avoid him again!" Sean desperately ordered.

Ralts waited for Sawk to be nearly upon her before she began to teleport, hoping to catch him off guard again, but before she could, Sawk pivoted his foot, and slid behind her. Temporarily stunned, Ralts couldn't avoid the blow, as Sawk swung his foot, and knocked her away. "RALTS!" She screeched in pain, as she bounced across the cold ground, and lay motionless.

The dojo fell silent, as everyone stared at the small white pokemon, waiting for it to get up. After several seconds, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, praising Usagi and Sawk. "Masterful work, Sensei Usagi!" They cheered.

Sean looked at his pokemon in horror, and began searching his bag for medicine. _Why did I force her to battle?! She needs medical attention now! You idiot! Why did you ever leave home?!_

Usagi breathed a sigh of relief, and then smiled at Sawk. "Well, that was the most intense battle we've had in a while, huh?" Sawk smiled at her, and then bowed to her, still recovering his breath. Usagi bowed back, and then looked at Sean. "Thank you, Sean. That was quite a close fight." She looked over at Ralts. "Unfortunately… What…?"

Sean followed her eyes, and lost his voice. _No way…_

The crowd stopped applauding, and looked over at Ralts. To everyone's utter shock, Ralts was now pushing itself off of the ground, and standing back up. She let out a shrill cough, and then nodded at Sean. "R… Ral…" She panted.

Usagi stared in amazement at the small pokemon, and then shook her head. "It appears that we're not finished yet…" She declared.

Sean locked eyes with Ralts, completely flustered. _Why is she still fighting?! She's in critical condition! _Ralts was looking at him with trusting eyes, waiting for his orders. Sean stared back pleadingly, hoping that she would simply lie back down. But she refused to.

"Sawk. Get ready." Usagi demanded, and Sawk turned back to face Ralts, attempting to hide his gasps for air.

Ralts continued to look expectantly at Sean, and seeing Sawk prepare to attack, Sean closed his eyes. _She can't take any more hits… And I don't think she has the strength to avoid him again… I can't afford to have her miss!_

"Sawk! Finish her off with double kick!" Usagi chanted, her grin returning.

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk!" Sawk bellowed, as he charged in for his final attack.

_If she uses confusion, she could miss! And then its all over! What do I do? _Sean fretted, and opened his eyes to see Ralts still watching him desperately. As Sawk closed in on his pokemon, Sean choked up, not knowing what to do.

Then, as Sawk approached Ralts, time seemed to freeze. Sean's despair vanished, and a sudden thought asserted itself into his mind. Somehow knowing what to do, Sean inhaled once, and then time unfroze. "RALTS! USE DISARMING VOICE!" He shouted as loudly as possible.

Ralts seemed to know what to do as well, and let out a shrill cry. "Raaaalts!" She cried, and Sawk suddenly stopped charging, clutching his ears. "Raaaaaaalts!" She cried again.

"Saaaaaaaawk!" Sawk howled once more, while violently shaking his head. All of a sudden, he ceased his shaking, and let go of his ears. He trembled, and then toppled over onto his back.

"Sawk! Are you ok? Sawk!" Usagi called out to her pokemon, but she received no response. The crowd was dead silent, as they waited for Sawk to get back up. But he didn't. He was out cold. After a few, long seconds, Usagi sighed, and pulled out her premier ball. She clicked the button, and the ball emitted a red beam of light. "Sawk, return." She called out, defeated.

Sean was stunned, and he stared blankly at the scene before him. He looked to Usagi, and then the silent crowd, and then to Ralts. _No way…_

Ralts looked back at him, seemingly confused herself. "Ralts?" She questioned him.

"Ahem!" The black belt from earlier cleared his throat. "It appears that Sensei Usagi has been defeated! The winner is the challenger, Sean Moxxy!"

The crowd exploded into chants and applause, all of the students cheering for the new champion of the dojo. "Moxxy! Moxxy! Moxxy!" They chanted in unison.

Sean finally processed the information in his head, and he sprinted over to Ralts, scooping her off the ground, and embracing her. "You did it! You were incredible!"

Ralts returned the hug with all her strength, which wasn't much, due to her exhaustion. "Ralts! Ralts!" She cheered weakly.

"Ahem." A strong voice silenced the room. Everybody turned to Usagi, who was staring directly at Sean. "Sean Moxxy…" She began.

"Y-yes?" Sean responded nervously.

Usagi stared at him for a good ten seconds, before she grinned ear-to-ear. "I haven't felt that kind of excitement in the past three years." She placed her hands together, and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Sean Moxxy."

As she bowed, all of her students bowed to Sean as well. His cheeks became three shades redder, and he scratched his head sheepishly. "Um… Thank you, Usagi."

Usagi snapped her fingers, and the man from earlier brought her a small box."To show the world that you prevailed today, please take this. The Chikara Badge." She opened the box, and handed Sean the contents; a badge that had the shape and color of a black belt.

With shaky hands, Sean took the badge, a huge grin spreading across his face. "You did it." He whispered to Ralts.

"No, Sean Moxxy." Usagi interrupted him. Sean quickly turned to face her, who was still beaming at him. "You are far too modest. Both of you defeated me. Your pokemon may be excellent, but without your expert guidance, it is nothing. Just as we need pokemon to battle, they need us. The bond between you and your Ralts is what allowed you to win." Usagi bowed once more. "As you leave today with badge in hand, remember that fact, Sean Moxxy."

Sean was stunned by her words. He looked down at Ralts, who was smiling up at him, seeming like she was agreeing with Usagi. With his pokemon's assurance, Sean looked at Usagi, and bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Usagi."

The crowd of students all bowed to Sean once more, and as Sean stood upright again, they continued to bow. Sean smiled at Ralts, who, unsurprisingly, was now fast asleep. Sean looked up to Usagi, and dismissed himself. "I should go. Ralts needs to rest."

"You may go." Usagi agreed. "You are always welcome here, Sean."

Sean nodded, and then turned to the large metal door. When he did, he noticed that it was currently closing. Confused, he squinted his eyes, and barely made out a moving mass of blonde hair, quickly fleeing up the stairs. _Was that… That girl again?_

"Walk with me. I shall see you out of the shrine." Usagi offered.

"Oh… Of course. Thank you, Usagi." With his approval, the students stopped bowing, and returned to their training, as Usagi and Sean exited the large door, and began ascending to the surface.

After a quick visit to the Pokemon Center, Ralts had been fully healed, and seemed more energetic than ever. She leapt off of the tray the Nurse had held her on, and climbed onto Sean's shoulder. Sean smiled up at her, and pet her on the head. "Glad to see you're all better." He told her, relieved. Sean then held his hand out to Usagi, who was standing beside him. "Thank you for battling with us, Ms. Usagi."

"The pleasure was mine, Mr. Moxxy." She answered him, as she shook his hand. "I must be off, though. I have something very important I must attend to." She bowed one last time. " I truly hope that you visit again." With that, she turned and exited the center, and was gone.

After she had left, Sean reached into his bag, and pulled out a small, blue and white case. He opened it, and smiled as he once again saw the black Chikara badge, being held firmly in place in its respective slot. There were seven more empty slots next to the badge, but Sean was simply happy to look at the one he had. "I still can't believe it, Ralts. We're an eighth of the way there." He whispered.

"Ralts!" She cheered, taking in the shiny badge for the first time.

Sean smiled at her, and then his smile faded as he remembered something. "Hey Ralts… I'm sorry I gave up back there."

"Ralts?" She questioned.

"When you went down back there, I panicked, and I was ready to give up. But meanwhile, you never gave up. You kept fighting for me, while I gave up on you." Sean looked away from Ralts. "I… I'm sorry, Ralts." Ralts remained silent, and Sean carried on. "I've been scared, ever since I left home with you. I've always feared battles, because I didn't want to force pokemon to get hurt, just because I wanted to win. But you fought, and you got seriously hurt. So that's why I panicked. I didn't want you to force yourself to fight anymore…"

Suddenly, Sean's head was forced to turn back to Ralts. Her horns were glowing blue, and she looked annoyed with him. "I know. That's really pathetic, isn't it? You're annoyed that I would give up like that?"

Ralts slapped Sean across the face, which was far more surprising than painful. When he turned back to her, she was shaking her head. "Ralts." She stated plainly.

Sean's eyes widened, as he somehow understood what she meant. "You… aren't upset with me? You enjoy fighting for me?" Ralts smiled at him, and nodded her head. Sean took a moment to take in the information, and then looked away. "I… I… Thanks, Ralts." He turned back and grinned at the small white pokemon. "Come on. Let's get out of here. You've definitely earned a treat after this."

"Ralts!" She cheered.

Sean chuckled, and was about to walk out of the pokemon center, when he was tapped on top of his head. He turned around, and was suddenly face-to-face with the boy from the train. He jumped backwards, and clutched his chest. "Good lord, Matt! Don't do that." He looked to his shoulder, and saw Ralts giggling. "It's not funny. I nearly had a panic attack."

The strange boy shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to get your attention." He lied.

"Just call my name!" Sean furiously responded. "Or how about you stand a few inches away like a normal person?!"

This made him smile. "But normal's overrated."

Sean's eyebrow raised at the boy's choice of words. "Right… So anyway, what do you want?"

Matt made a pouty face. "Sheesh, no need to be so grouchy." He reached into his pocket, and then extended his hand forward. "After all, I was going to invite you to the contest hall. I already bought you a ticket, out of the kindness of my heart." He flashed a sparkly pink ticket to Sean.

Sean looked at it in amazement. "How did you…?"

"I saw you looking at it earlier today. I figured it would be nice to invite you to come with me." Matt told him, not bothered by Sean's reaction.

Sean stared at the ticket for a few more seconds, thinking about the situation. _Well... I did promise Ralts a treat… But this kid is… odd. _He glanced at Ralts, who seemed very curious about the ticket. _I guess it wouldn't hurt... _Sean grabbed the ticket out of the boy's hand. "Okay. When does it begin?

Matt beamed. "Starts in an hour!"

"All right. I'll see ya there." Sean replied thankfully, and then exited the Pokemon Center, looking for the hotel.

Sean managed to take a quick nap, and make it to the contest hall ten minutes early. After presenting his ticket at the front gate, he began to look for Matt. He scanned the entire room, but he couldn't find him anywhere. After a minute of searching, he concluded Matt was simply late, and took a seat. He picked a seat in the front row, so that he could witness a contest first hand. He placed Ralts in the seat beside him, in order to save a seat for Matt when he eventually showed up.

"You know, Ralts. My mom used to be a coordinator." Sean told his companion.

"Ralts?" She urged him on.

"Yeah, she was. But only when she was younger. I never got to see her perform." Sean sighed. "It's a shame, too. I hear she was one of the best coordinators there was."

Sean was about to continue, but suddenly, the lights shut off. A spotlight lit up on the stage, and revealed a man in a red suit, and a black top hat. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Iko Town Pokemon contest!" There was a huge uproar from the crowd. "As you all know, these contests are meant to show the inner beauty that each pokemon holds within themselves! So who's ready to see that inner beauty?!"

The crowd erupted into applause and shouts. Their noise was deafening, and Ralts seemed a bit uncomfortable. Sean smiled at the crowds excitement. _They're really excited for this, huh? _

"But before we begin the competition, allow me to introduce our judges! In the first chair we have the president of Covermon, Misteeeeeeeeeeer Hikaru!" The crowd cheered enthusiastically.

"He's the CEO of a pokemon beauty supply company. He's pretty well-known." Sean informed Ralts.

"I'm glad to be here!" The older, suited man stated enthusiastically. He spoke with a very warm tone, which the crowd seemed to eat up.

"Next up, we have one of the most famous coordinators in the whole Utreme Region! Give it up for the young, the talented, Aaaaaalice!" The crowd cheered as the red-haired girl next to Mr. Hikaru stood and waved.

She was wearing a billowing white dress, which complimented the huge white bow in her hair. "I love you all! Please enjoy the show!"

_She must be one of those contest idols. _Sean thought idly.

"And lastly, the gym leader of this gorgeous town! Let's make some noise for the one, the only, Miss. Uuuuuuusagi!" The crowd went absolutely nuts as Usagi stood and waved.

Sean's eye's widened. He hadn't recognized the gym leader, for she was dressed completely differently. She was wearing a fancy black dress, bright red lipstick, and her hair was let down, as opposed to her previous ponytail. "Thank you for coming to my quaint little town. Please enjoy the show."

"Now, let's get this started with the talent section!" The crowd was in an uproar as the lights into the stadium reignited.

Sean looked around himself, and then realized, "Matt's still not here… I thought he would have found me by now." As the first contestant came onto the stage, Sean sighed and reclined in his chair. "Whatever, then. I guess he must have felt sick or something."

The host stepped back. "First up, we have Katence, and her Corphish!"

Sean watched the contest act by act, he and Ralts continuously being awed by the magnificent show. Each act was followed by the judges' comments, and a round of applause from the crowd. Sean had forgotten about the lack of Matt by the time the contest reached the final contestant. "Now for our final contestant! Matt, and Feebas!"

The crowd erupted once more, and Sean nearly choked on his drink. After Ralts had patted his back, he told her, "He must be talking about somebody else."

To Sean's incredible surprise, the name did not belong to someone else. From one of the stage's entrances, Matt walked onto the stage, and the main floor opened into a water arena. He was now wearing a sea blue blazer, a white v-neck, black jeans, and purple fingerless gloves. "Alright Feebas! Spotlight!" He threw up his poke ball, and an explosion of hearts expelled over the pokemon as it hit the water. Some of the teenagers behind Sean made jokes about his choice of pokemon, but Sean was still stunned by the trainer himself.

"Feebas! Dive deep, then use water pulse!" The brown pokemon dived, and soon a large ring of water shot in the air. "Now, use confuse ray, then dive up with a spinning mist!" Feebas came above water and a multicolored beam shot from his forehead into the air. Quickly, it dived again, before shooting out of the water like a torpedo. A spinning ball of mist was surrounding the pokemon as it reemerged from the water. Soon, the ring of water, the confuse ray, and the ball of mist all converged on one spot. Sean's eyes were wide open, and the crowd was screaming with applause as the entire contest hall was being masqueraded as a sea of multicolored sparkles. For a few moments, the entire contest hall was lit up in a rainbow of colored light, as the small fish spun in the air.

After a few seconds, which appeared much longer than they actually were, Feebas descended back into the water, where Matt promptly called him back into his poke ball. He grinned and waved enthusiastically at the audience, then turned towards the judges, awaiting their comments.

was first. "The originality with which you created such a classic illusion was fantastic!" The crowd responded with a cheer.

Alice stood dramatically with her hands up. "Lovely, in all aspects of the word! Also, your Feebas is soooo cute!" There was a rather large applause in response to her comment.

Usagi cleared her throat, and the crowd instantly quieted down. "Your performance was excellent, and you have truly trained your pokemon well." As she finished her small comment, the crowd went absolutely ballistic.

Ralts seemed confused, and Sean chuckled. "Well, that's Usagi all right." He said to himself.

Matt bowed, and left the stage. Soon, the MC was back in the center. "Now, the judges will talk amongst themselves, and decide which eight contestants will move on. So we'll be back in 10 minutes!"

About half of the crowd left to use the bathroom, but Sean remained seated. "I can't believe Matt's a coordinator." He told Ralts skeptically.

"Ralts?" She queried.

"A coordinator is basically a pokemon trainer, but they enter contests instead of gym battles." Sean explained. "Anyway, we're about to see if he goes on to round two." Ralts just nodded, and then hopped onto her trainer's lap.

Like clockwork, the MC was centerstage in 10 minutes on the dot. "If you'll look to the the big screen, you'll see our eight semi-finalists." Every head turned to the massive screen with bated breath. Soon, eight pictures flashed onto the screen, one at a time. Sean saw a familiar face, and smirked. "Looks like Matt made it." He informed Ralts, and she clapped her small hands.

"Make sure to come back tomorrow for the semi-finals!" The MC shouted and then threw down a smoke bomb, and disappeared. Sean followed the crowd out, with Ralts sitting on his shoulder. When he walked outside, he saw Matt leaning against a tree, looking up at the sky.

Sean walked up to him, and greeted him. "It would've been nice to know that you were competing. I spent the first half of the contest saving you a seat."

Matt smirked at him. "You never asked."

"Well congrats on making it to the semi-finals. You'd better win tomorrow, so I can watch you win the finals too." Sean ordered him.

Matt looked surprised. "Y-You're coming back?"

"Of course. I've always wanted to watch a contest." Sean turned away from the purple haired boy. "Anyways, we're going to one of the restaurants in town… Would you and your pokemon like to come with us?"

Matt's face brightened considerably. "Sure!" He chirped. They walked together into a ramen house, ordered, and began to talk. They talked for a long time, about pretty much anything, like friends would. Sean felt odd, since he hadn't talked to anyone like this for a long time.

"And that's it, folks! The final round shall be between the new coordinator Matt, and the veteran Carla! Show up tomorrow for the exciting final round!" The MC declared, before throwing another smoke ball, and disappearing.

Matt was standing behind the curtain of the contest stage, waiting to be dismissed. Standing beside him were the seven other semi-finalists, patiently waiting for the MC. The MC reappeared in front of them after a few seconds, and smiled.

"Alright, so tomorrow is the final round. Matt, Carla, make sure to show up early that day." He instructed.

"Alright." Matt answered.

"Yes, sir." Carla responded.

"You are all free to go!" The MC stated, and then vanished once more. Before he retired for the day, Matt extended his hand to Carla.

"Whatever happens tomorrow, I wish you the best of luck!" Matt said as he extended his hand.

"The feeling is mutual." Carla told him as she shook his hand. After their conversation, both of the contestants walked out of the contest hall, and back to their hotel rooms.

As Matt lied down on the bed, he told himself, "You can do this, Matt." He held his hand to the sky, and clenched his fist. "Prove dad wrong and win… Win for mom." The rest of the night dragged on for Matt, as he simply sat and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

"In this corner," The MC shouted. "The beautiful, Caaaaaaarlaaaaa!" The crowd roared in response.

Matt was standing just off of the contest stage, and he laughed to himself. "People sure do love her."

"And in this corner, the newcomer, the powerful, Maaaaaaaaatt!" Matt ran out onto the stage with a smile and a wave, as he was washed in cheers and applause. He glanced to the front row, and saw Sean and Ralts watching him. He waved at them, and stopped on his side of the battle stage. Carla was wearing a new purple dress with sequence, matching gloves that went to her elbows, purple shoes, black jewelry, and two sequenced bows in her grey hair. Matt was wearing a black blazer with tails, normal black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a miniature black top hat on his head. "Ladies first." Matt insisted, as he bowed in a gentlemanly fashion.

Carla just smiled. "Thank you." She curtsied before pulling out a pokeball. "Umbreon! It's your time to shine!" She threw her poke ball, and it unleashed a white light, which formed into an Umbreon, surrounded by bubbles.

"My turn. Let's go Vulpix! Spotlight!" Vulpix jumped out of its ball, engulfed in sparkles.

"Vulpix." She called playfully.

"Breon." The Umbreon shot back mischievously.

The screen showed the number three and began to count down. "**3" **Matt felt a bit nervous, but he knew he could win. "**2"** _I need to win. For mom, and for my team… _Matt assured himself. _I know she's watching on her tv right now. I have to win. _"**1" **

On the screen, a picture of both competitors appeared, each with a yellow circle around them. "Umbreon, use quick attack!" Carla began. In a burst of speed, Umbreon charged at Vulpix.

"Vulpix, dodge!" The small pokemon hopped out of the way, but Umbreon pivoted on its foot, and jumped to tackle Vulpix.

"Pix!" It called before hitting the ground.

Matt glanced at the screen, and noticed that he had four and a half minutes left to win. In addition, about 10% of his yellow circle had disappeared. _Focus!_ He yelled at himself. "Vulpix, use quick attack!" Vulpix began to glow a bit before charging towards Umbreon.

"Umbreon, tackle it!" Carla countered.

"Keep it going Vulpix! Now use Ember as well, and spin!" Vulpix managed to pull off what Matt had ordered, and she became a fiery drill, charging towards Umbreon. Vulpix was faster and stronger than her opponent, so she got sent flying. The attack, plus the creativeness of the move, caused Carla to lose about 30% of her health.

"**3 minutes."** The screen announced.

"Nice move, Matt." Carla complimented. "It looks like we have to step it up. Umbreon use Quick attack again!" Umbreon started running towards Vulpix. "Now, let's show them we can do it too! Use swift, and become a shooting star!" Umbreon ran quickly, as stars came from its paws. "Now, double kick!"

"Vulpix do-" Matt tried to order his pokemon, but was too late. The swift and double kick combo hit hard, and Vulpix rolled onto her feet. "Vulpix, get up!" Vulpix slowly opened her eyes, and stood up shakily. "You can do it." Matt looked to the monitor again. He had lost 30% more of his circle. "Vulpix, use fire spin!" Matt ordered. Vulpix began to breath fire out of its mouth, causing a tornado of fire to appear overhead.

But before Matt could issue another order, Carla called out, "Umbreon! Use swift on the fire spin!"

"Umbreon!" Umbreon declared, before it shot multiple stars at the raging fire tornado. Not only did the stars cause the tornado to become infinitely more beautiful, it caused it to spin faster. Vulpix lost control, and she had to abandon the move, which then burst into a shower of embers and stars.

The crowd roared at the maneuver, and Matt looked at the scoreboard, and saw that he had lost another 20% of his health. _I have about 30% less than her with 45 seconds remaining... Urgh, what do I do? _

"Umbreon, use double kick again!" Umbreon came down, but Vulpix moved out of the way without Matt's command. She looked over at him, with time running out.

_I can't give up! _Matt told himself. There were 30 more seconds on the clock. _I can do this! _

"Vulpix, Ember!" The embers shot at Umbreon, catching it off gaurd, and Carla lost 10% of her circle.

"Looks like I'm not that far behind." Matt smiled at Carla. "I want you and Umbreon to give Vulpix and I all you have. Don't hold back!"

This made Carla grin widely. "Okay then, you asked for it! I'm gonna win in these last few moments! Umbreon! Swift one more time!"

"Vulpix! Ember!" The stars and flames collided, and there was an explosion of fiery stars. Both Carla and Matt got credit, and lost 10% health each.

"10 seconds left, Matt! Let's see what you can do." Carla taunted him. "Umbreon, use shadow ball!" A dark, shadowy ball came from the pokemon's mouth, and fired at Vulpix.

"Vulpix! Use flame wheel, and catch the shadow ball!" Vulpix began to spit fire out of her mouth, but before she fired it, she began to spin around, creating a wheel of fire. She continued to spin in place, and the rushing flames forced the shadow ball into their orbit. The black ball became smaller and smaller, and soon Vulpix became cloaked in black flames. "Now attack!" Vulpix let go of the flame wheel, and it rushed towards Umbreon. Umbreon and Carla were too stunned to react, and the wheel slammed into Umbreon, making it fly backwards. Soon, the buzzer went off, and all eyes looked to the giant screen.

Matt's face broke into a relieved grin, as he saw that his percentage was higher by 20%. "We did it…"

The MC reappeared on the stage, and the room went quiet. "The winner of the Iko Town contest… Is Matt and Vulpix!"

The audience began to cheer so loudly, Matt thought he would go deaf. Vulpix walked over to Matt, and he scooped her up in his arms. He walked over to Carla, and grinned happily at her. "You two were awesome!" He said with a huge smile. "How did you get so good?"

Carla looked dumfounded. "Umm... practice. Although, I think that you two stole the show with that last move." Clara held out her hand, and Matt shook it vigorously.

Matt walked over to the three judges, who were beaming at him. Usagi was holding a ribbon made of black lace, looped around golden fist emblem. "I present you with the Iko ribbon." She began. "Matt, you have truly proven yourself." She handed Matt the ribbon, which he took with gusto.

Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple box. He opened it, and exposed the soft blue interior with five indentations for ribbons. He placed the Iko ribbon into the first spot, making the crowd go crazy. "Thank you!" Matt cheered, his smile growing even wider. The audience continued to cheer, even as the MC retook the stage, and Matt exited it.

"This concludes the Iko Town contest! Congratulations to Matt for his first ever contest victory!" He concluded the competition.

As Matt walked out the back of the contest hall, he couldn't stop smiling. _I did it… _He congratulated himself. _Mom… I'm on my way to being a top coordinator. Watch me. I'll make you proud._

The following day, Sean stood with Ralts at the edge of town. "That was fun, huh Ralts?" Sean asked.

"Ralts Ralts!" She cheered, and clapped her hands together.

"Yeah, I know! I can't believe Matt actually won. That final move was really something." Sean recalled.

"Ralts?" She asked him.

"Don't worry. We'll go to more contests. I hear there's one in Clover City. Maybe we'll see that one too." Sean promised.

"Ralts." She agreed, and then faced forward.

"Yeah. let's head off." Sean declared, and took his first step.

"Wait! Sean!" A voice called out to him. he and Ralts turned to face the new voice, and recognized Matt's purple hair running towards them.

"Oh, Matt. I never got the chance to congratulate you." Sean greeted him. "So, congrats."

"Ralts!" She congratulated him as well.

"Oh, thanks!" Matt replied with a glued-on grin.

"Anyway, we need to get moving. Clover City is a little ways away, and our second pokemon gym is there." Sean extended his hand, and Ralts mimicked him. "It was nice meeting you, Matt." Matt shook Sean's hand, and used his finger to shake Ralts'. "See you around." Sean finished, and turned to walk away.

"...Wait."

Sean turned his head around to look at Matt. "Yes?"

Matt looked straight into Sean's eyes, suddenly losing his grin. "Listen. You're a trainer, right? So you're on a journey to beat every gym leader?" He queried.

"Yeah." Sean answered plainly.

"And your next destination is Clover City, right?"

"Indeed." Sean responded.

"Well, I'm a coordinator. I'm on a journey to win every contest I can to get into the Grand Festival. And my next contest is in Clover City as well…" Matt scratched his head sheepishly. "So… Do you wanna… Travel together?"

Sean was a bit surprised by the boy's proposition. He didn't answer right away, and he looked to the side. _Matt wants to travel with me? Well… I guess I could let him… But… _Sean looked down to Ralts, who looked up and nodded at him. Sean smiled, and then met Matt's eyes again. "Sure, Matt. Welcome to the team."

Matt took a moment to process his answer, and then his huge grin reappeared in full force. "You mean it?" He asked blissfully.

"Why would I lie about that? Come on. We have a lot of walking ahead of us." Sean assured him, and then turned to walk, which Ralts did as well. Matt was ecstatic, and then ran up beside them, matching their pace. The trio began to talk as friends, as Iko Town disappeared over the horizon, and their journey together began.

But, as the three of them walked through the tall grass, and talked about pokemon, battles, contests, food, or any other random subject, Sean felt an uneasiness in the air. At first, he thought it was Matt, and that he was just beginning to get to know him, but he soon learned that his uneasiness came from another source. Out of the corner of his eye, he constantly saw movement behind him. Yet every time he turned to look, there was nothing. He kept shrugging it off, but he felt more and more anxious as the minutes went on.

"...So that's when I decided that I wanted to catch Vulpix!" Matt rambled on. "So after I ran after it, I sent out Feebas to weaken it. But that's about when I realized that Feebas can't really breathe out of water…"

Sean chuckled at his friend's story. "Matt, just because it's strong against Vulpix doesn't mean-" Sean cut himself off as he noticed the movement again.

'

"Ralts?" She queried.

"You ok, Sean? You've been rather jumpy for a while." Matt worried.

Sean turned completely around, and scanned the forest behind them. As he expected, he no longer saw movement. He furiously scanned the area, looking for anything out of place. After thirty seconds, he saw nothing, so he got an idea. "It's nothing. Let's go." He assured them, and then pretended to turn around. He stomped his feet on the ground to pretend he was walking away, and then quickly turned back around. This time, he saw the movement again. He scanned the forest again, and this time, found something out of place. It was barely visible, but he saw a little bit of blonde hair, hanging out from behind a tree.

"Sean, what are you looking at?" Matt asked him.

_I've had enough of this! _Sean fumed, and then took a step towards the forest. "I know you're there!" He shouted at the forest. "You've been following me for a while now! I'm sick of it! Show yourself, or I'm going to get really angry!"

"Sean, who are you talking to?!" Matt urgently asked him.

"Ralts Ralts!" Ralts clung to his leg.

"You have ten seconds to come out here! Or I'll have Ralts use disarming voice on you!" Sean threatened the air.

After Sean's threat, the world went silent. Two seconds passed. Nothing moved. Five seconds passed. Nobody came out of the forest. Eight seconds passed, and Sean looked to Ralts, ready to make her attack. But then, he heard rustling. Sean looked back forward, and saw a figure exiting the darkness of the forest. Ralts hid behind Sean, and Matt took a step back as well. "Whoa! Who is that?!"

The figure slowly walked out of the shadows, and walked into the light, revealing its true form. Matt and Ralts stopped shaking, and tilted their heads in confusion as they took in the new figure. "Ralts?" She questioned.

"...Um… Hello." The figure greeted them, and then brushed her long, blonde hair out of her face.

"... A girl?" Matt asked in disbelief.

Sean took another step forward. "So. You finally speak. How long have you been following me for?"

The girl refused to meet his eyes, and put her hands together nervously. "...One week."

"Ralts!" Ralts cried out angrily.

Sean narrowed his eyes, and took another step forward. "Ok then… Now tell me, why have you been stalking me?"

"I-I haven't b-been stalking you!" The girl cried out. Sean simply continued to stare at her, and she looked down once more. "...I was seeing if you were a good trainer. I needed to make sure that you were."

"Why?" Matt demanded.

The girl continued to look down. "...I was told to go on a journey through the region. I was told to leave no stone in Utreme unturned. And… Well… My mom said I shouldn't travel by myself."

Sean took another step forward. "Your mother, huh? So you've been stalking me, to see if I was a good trainer, because your mom told you to?"

The girl blushed. "Well…" She finally met Sean's eyes. "I'm a pokemon designer. I need to go on this journey to get inspired for my designs."

"Ok… So how does that involve me?" Sean questioned, beginning to calm down.

"Well… I'm not a good trainer. Or a good coordinator." The girl looked away again. "I can't get any inspiration if I can't fight any gyms or do any contests… So… I looked for someone who I could just watch battle. So that i could be inspired. The fact that you have a coordinator with you is a great addition too…"

Ralts shook her head, and looked up at Sean. "Ralts Ralts!"

Matt looked to Sean as well. "Well Sean, you're the one she was stalking. Do you think that she was telling the truth this time?"

Sean stared right at the girl, whose pale face was now a bright red color. Her bright brown eyes were hiding behind her long blonde hair, and Sean almost felt guilty looking at her. He took in her clothing, which was a plain yellow t-shirt, short black shorts, and white sneakers. The only thing she had with her was a small teal-colored purse, which didn't seem to be holding much. _I think she was being honest that time… And there's nothing really off about her… So now what? _"Ok, so you found a good trainer, and a good coordinator. And now we've seen you. So. What will you do now?" Sean asked ominously.

The girl looked back at him, and Sean could tell that her heart was racing. She seemed to be on the verge of tears, and she continued to just meet Sean's gaze. After a few more seconds, the girl bowed deeply. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have followed you!" She apologized very quickly. "I just didn't know how else to find out if you were a good trainer! I didn't mean to act like a stalker! I just… I…"

Sean watched her break down in apologies, and he sighed. "You could have simply talked to me."

"I know! I'm sorry! I just…" The girl looked back up, her face somehow even more red. "P-please let me travel with you! I-I swear I won't stalk you anymore! I-I mean I won't follow you anymore! I-I mean I will follow you, but you'll know about it! I mean… Ugh…"

Ralts continued to shake her head, and Matt shrugged his shoulders. "Sean, this is your call. You should probably make a decision so she stops digging her hole deeper."

Sean closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. _As if I truly have a choice… _"Hey." He silenced the girl.

"Y-yes?" She responded immediately.

"Calm down. I'm not angry at you." Sean assured her.

The girl's expression became relieved, and she breathed very deeply. "I-I'm sorry… Really…"

Sean shook his head, and flipped his hair, attempting to seem older than he was. "So, exactly how old are you?"

The girl looked him in the eyes again. "I-I'm eleven."

Matt nearly choked on his own breath. "You've been being stalked by an eleven-year-old? Sheesh, and I thought _I_ had it bad!"

"And your name?" Sean ignored his friend.

"J-Jenna." She responded nervously.

"Alright then, Jenna. So you're an eleven-year-old designer who needs inspiration?" Sean reviewed their conversation.

"That's correct." Jenna responded, beginning to calm down.

Sean groaned, and turned his back on Jenna. She put her head down, defeated, and turned away to run back into the woods. "All right then. Come on. We have a long way to Clover City."

Ralts gaped at Sean, and Jenna whirled around. "Really?!" She shouted, and then covered her mouth.

"My mom would get mad at me if I told her I left an eleven-year-old girl alone in the forest." Sean turned back to Jenna, who was wearing a confused stare. "That was a joke. Come on. You're part of the team now."

Matt chuckled, and then turned away. "You're inviting your stalker to join the team, huh?" He teased.

Sean glared at him. "In case you've forgotten, you were stalking me too."

Matt spun around to face him. "I was not!"

"You bought me a contest ticket before I even knew you were there." Sean plainly responded.

Matt was flustered, and Jenna giggled. "Wow. That's creepy."

"Shut up! You're still more of a stalker than I am!"

"I'm not a stalker!"

"Well neither am I!"

Sean face-palmed. "What have I gotten myself into…" He muttered. Ralts began to laugh, and then jumped onto Sean's shoulder. "Don't laugh. You're stuck with them too." He turned back to his new companions. "Come on. I want to get there before night falls."

"Y-yessir!" Jenna yelled, and then saluted.

"Sure." Matt responded casually, and then began walking beside Sean. The two of them began walking, and then Jenna smiled.

"Well, that went much better than I'd hoped. I'm gonna be inspired for sure!" She skipped beside Sean and Matt, and the three of them continued to walk, ready for the long journey ahead of them.


	4. Chapter 4

"Bon appetit!" Matt chanted, and then handed Sean, Ralts, and Jenna each a sandwich.

"Thank you." Jenna responded graciously. "I didn't actually pack anything to eat, and I'm really hungry…"

Sean and Ralts took the sandwiches, and Sean looked at Matt with curious eyes. "Did you make these yourself, Matt?" He asked.

"Made these? Ha! I couldn't boil water!" Matt joked. "Seriously though, my mom made them for me."

Sean cracked a small smile. "I see. Tell her thanks for me."

Matt's eyes grew distant for a split second. "...Yeah. I'll tell her."

Jenna leaned in to bite into her meal, but Matt suddenly yanked her cheek. "AHHHHH! What the heck?!" She shouted.

"We wait for our pokemon before we eat, young lady." He scolded her, and then let go, leaving her with a sore cheek.

"Why didn't you say so before you gave me a sandwhich?!" Jenna cried.

Ralts began to giggle, which caused Jenna to glare at her. Sean felt the growing hostility in the air, and cleared his throat. "So then. Why don't you and Jenna send out your pokemon, Matt?" He attempted to make peace.

"Fine. But next time, she get's a chop to the solar plexus." Matt warned.

Jenna folded her arms and looked to the side. "That's not even a word..." She pouted.

"_Anyways,_" Matt pulled out two poke balls. "Feebas, Vulpix, come on out!" The spheres released two white lights, which formed into Feebas and Vulpix, with Feebas lying on its side.

As soon as Vulpix caught sight of Ralts, she jumped beside Ralts, and began licking her face. "Vuuuulpix." She purred. Ralts tried pushing her away, but it was of no use. Jenna sneered at Ralts, a gesture which caused Sean to chuckle quietly.

Matt glanced over at his Feebas, and his eyes shot open. "Oh! I almost forgot!" He rummaged through his bag, and after a few seconds, he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a collar-like item, made of black fabric, with two silver hemispheres on either side. He quickly tightened it around Feebas, and made sure that the silver hemispheres were placed over its gills. Feebas instantly sat up, seemingly refreshed.

"Whoa. What was that?" Sean asked, awed by the now upright pokemon.

"Oh, that? It's a special collar my dad made. There's a few liters of water in the silver parts, and its enough to let Feebas breathe for 24 hours. I need to refill it after that, but its really useful. Feebas seems to get better at breathing each time I use it, so pretty soon, he might not need it anymore."

"That's so cool!" Jenna praised. "Your dad sounds like a genius!"

Matt's eyes became spacey, and he pretended to put something back in his bag. "Uh-huh. So, how about you, Jenna? You got any pokemon?"

Jenna's eyes shot open, and she nodded. "Y-yeah. I have two actually."

Sean turned his attention away from Feebas, and looked at Jenna. "Really? That's kind of surprising."

Jenna chuckled. "Well, someone has to model for me." She explained giddily.

"Well? Let's see this mysterious duo!" Matt demanded.

"Oh, okay." Jenna replied, before she stood, and reached into her purse. "Okay guys, don't be shy!" She threw two pokeballs straight up into the air, and they both released a white light, which formed into two new pokemon.

One of the beams formed into a small, brown, fox pokemon, with ears as big as its entire head, and a large tuft of white fur around its neck. The other materialized into a tall, four-legged, white pokemon, with piercing red eyes, a scythe-like, navy blue horn on the right side of its head, and a white bang hanging around the left side of its face. "Veeee!" The small fox yawned.

Jenna picked up the small brown pokemon, and smiled down at it. "This little guy is Eevee. Isn't he just the cutest?" She chirped.

"Vee! Vee!" Eevee greeted everyone else.

Jenna set down Eevee, who skipped over to Vulpix and Ralts. Jenna then turned to her second pokemon. "And this is Absol." The pokemon looked at Jenna, and then surveyed its surroundings. It glanced at Matt with uninterest in its red eyes, and then turned away.

"I don't think it likes you, Matt." Sean joked.

Matt shot Sean a glare of his own. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Absol, don't be rude! These are our new friends!" Jenna insisted.

Absol looked at Sean, Matt, and their pokemon, and then walked over to Jenna, and plopped itself down in front of her. "Sol." It huffed.

Jenna laughed awkwardly. "Hahaha, don't mind him. He's not used to seeing new people." She covered for her pokemon.

Matt shook his head. "Whatever, then. I'll just play with Eevee then."

Jenna forced a laugh at Matt's comment, and then stopped when she heard Absol growl. She looked down at her feet, and saw Sean reaching towards it. "Sooooool…" The white pokemon growled at him. Undeterred, Sean continued to inch closer.

"Um, Sean. That thing might hurt you." Matt advised him.

Sean stopped about a foot away from Absol, and began to reach out to it. Absol stared daggers at him, and growled once more. "Soooool…"

"A-absol! Don't growl at him!" Jenna shouted.

"Sooooooo-ol?" Absol cut itself off, as Sean stroked his hand over the white bang near its head.

Sean smiled gently at Absol. "You like when people pet you here, huh?" He whispered soothingly. "Don't worry, we're nice people, like your trainer." Sean continued to pet Absol on its asymmetrical white hair.

As Sean pet Absol, it appeared stunned by his touch. But as Sean continued to stroke its hair, it melted under his touch, and grew an uncontrollable, bubbly smile. "Sooooool…" It purred affectionately.

Jenna and Matt were gaping at the spectacle before them, shocked at how fast Absol had accepted Sean. "How… How did you know where to pet him?" She asked, awestruck.

Sean pulled his hand away from Absol, causing him to grow a hurt frown. "Sol…" He cried, and then returned to his grouchy demeanor.

"In all honesty, it was a lucky guess." Sean clarified, now smiling giddily. "I read that the fur near Absol's head is sensitive, so I assumed that he'd like to be pet there. Its like how Eevee likes you to pet its white neck fur, and Ralts like being pet on the head."

Jenna gaped at his explanation. "Even I didn't know that…"

"Sheesh. Has anyone ever told you you'd make a fantastic nurse?" Matt complimented.

Sean's smile faded. "...What does that mean?"

Matt was confused. "Well, you're great at making pokemon feel comfortable, and you have a great smile, so I guess I just thought you'd be good at comforting people." He looked away. "Sorry. I didn't mean any offense."

Sean shook his head, and then grew back his smile. "Sorry. Thanks for the compliment."

At that moment, a low growl resounded in the air. Matt looked around quickly, and then found the source of the noise. He locked eyes with Jenna, who was now clutching her waist. Her face flushed, and she whispered, "Um… Could we eat now?"

"Whoops. Forgot about that." Matt admitted.

"How did you forget about that…?" Sean muttered.

Matt reached into his bag once more, and pulled out a small plastic bag, containing multiple colored cubes. He opened the bag, and set down a few blocks for Feebas and Vulpix. "Here ya go, guys. Hey, Absol, Eevee, Ralts, want some?"

The pokemon began to approach Matt, and Jenna groaned. "I meant could _we _eat now?" She whined.

"Oh yeah, go ahead." Matt responded apathetically. Jenna picked her sandwich back up, and began to devour it. Feebas and Vulpix began to eat their share, while Absol, Eevee, and Ralts stared at Matt curiously.

Sean also found himself staring at Matt. "Um… What are those?"

Matt's eyes flared open, and he gaped at Sean. "What? You don't know what a pokeblock is?"

Sean stared at him absentmindedly. "...No?" He questioned.

Matt chuckled. "Finally, something you don't know." He bragged, and then handed a few pink pokeblocks to Eevee, who took them all in his mouth, and skipped away. "They're like candy, but for pokemon. They're also pretty healthy for them. Don't worry, I'll share." Matt held a handful of pokeblocks out to Absol, waiting for him to eat them out of his palm. Absol stared at the green and blue blocks in Matt's hand, and then turned and walked away. Matt sighed. "Not a fan of dry or bitter, huh?"

Ralts examined to pokeblocks in Matt's hand, and then scooped all of them up in her arms. She ran back over to Sean, but then tripped and dropped her cargo on the ground. "Ralts…" She groaned.

Sean immediately set down his own meal, and helped Ralts pick up the pokeblocks. He gave her back most of them, but kept five of them in his hand. He walked over to Absol, and set the pokeblocks down in front of him. Absol immediately turned his head away, and pretended to be uninterested. Sean sat down in front of him, and simply inched the blocks closer. Absol continued to glance at the food, continuing to seem uninterested. After Sean has pushed the blocks all the way to Absol's stomach, he turned towards Sean, and then quickly snatched one of the blocks in his mouth. "I knew you were hungry." Sean gloated, and then stroked Absol's white bang.

Matt glared at the two, and then turned back to his pokemon. "Of course he accepts pokeblocks from him…" He murmured.

After feeding Absol, Sean walked back over to his spot by his bag, and sat down with Ralts. Ralts was currently feasting upon her pokeblocks, and she hopped onto Sean's lap as she sat down. Sean finally pulled out his own sandwich, and then ripped it in half, giving half of it to Ralts. She devoured that as well, and Sean stroked her affectionately on the head. "Raaal." She sighed happily.

"Um… Sean?" Jenna called out, and Sean turned to her. Her mouth was covered in crumbs, and she was eyeing him ravenously. "Do you, uh… Want the other half?" Sean gave her a disgusted stare, and then held out the sandwich to her. She ran over and grabbed it, and then beamed at him. "Thanks!" She took a bite, and then ran over and sat beside Absol, and Eevee soon joined them. Ralts gave Sean a concerned stare, but he smiled, and took out his bag of macaroons. The three trainers then ate together with their pokemon, silently relishing their small break.

But, as they all sat quietly, Absol's red eyes flew open, and he turned towards Matt. He began to glare at his bag, never taking its eyes off of it. "What is it, Absol?" Jenna asked her pokemon.

"Sol." He replied wearily.

"He seems pretty interested in our stuff." Matt laughed.

"Maybe he just wants more pokeblocks-" Jenna was cut off by shuffling in Sean's bag.

"What was that?" Matt questioned. He began to creep towards the bag, and when he was over it, he turned it over, and a small creature tumbled off of it. It was a brown-and-green, mushroom-like pokemon, using it's small green feet to try and open the bag. It was carrying Matt's ribbon case in it's mouth, and a poke ball was balanced on top of it. "HEY!" Matt yelled. "That's my case!"

"Shroom." The pokemon looked up at Matt, and its eyes widened in fear. "Shroomish!" It shouted, and then began to run.

"Stop that Shroomish! Feebas! Vulpix!" Matt shouted, as he began to pursue the small pokemon.

Shroomish ran as fast as it could, but Vulpix quickly blocked off its initial escape route. It screeched to a halt, and it dropped Matt's case, the poke ball rolling onto the ground. Shroomish turned around, and began to sprint away from Vulpix. It managed to avoid Vulpix, but then, it tripped over the poke ball that had fallen off of the case. "Mish!" It shrieked, as it fell on its face. Shroomish's foot tapped the button on the center of the poke ball, causing it to enlarge, and then pop open. The poke ball shot a red beam of light at Shroomish, and then sucked it inside. The ball wiggled for a little bit, and then stopped moving, and made a click sound.

The world went completely silent, as everyone stared blankly at the poke ball in front of them. Sean stared wide-eyed at the ball, and then pinched himself on the arm. Ralts' eyes were obscured under her hair, but her gaping mouth expressed her opinion. "R-Ralts…?"

"...Did that really just happen?" Sean whispered, dumbfounded.

"I… You... How?!" Jenna sputtered.

Awestruck, Matt walked over to the poke ball, and picked it up. After examining it for a few seconds, he grinned, and held it in the air triumphantly. "Yeah! I just caught a Shroomish!" He cheered.

Jenna face palmed hard. "No you didn't. He just caught himself." She countered.

"Did that… Shroomish… actually just catch itself...?" Sean whispered in disbelief. "I… think I'm gonna go sit down for a while." Sean walked himself over to his bag, and then sat down, still processing the scene.

"That will make one heck of a story." Jenna complimented, while shaking her head. "Nobody will believe you though…"

"Sooooooool..." Absol suddenly growled at a nearby bush.

"What is it now, Absol?" Jenna asked worriedly.

Without warning, the white pokemon took off towards the bushes, and charged through them into deep woods. "Wait!" Jenna called, and ran after him.

"Jenna, wait! Ugh, everyone return!" Matt pulled out his two pokeballs, and called back his pokemon, picking up Feebas' leftover collar. "Stay here, Eevee." He he put on his bag, and chased after the young girl.

Ralts realized the situation, and then tugged on Sean's sleeve, urging him to move. But Sean sat in place, staring off into space, ignoring his pokemon. "Shroomish caught itself, but pokemon aren't supposed to catch themselves that's the whole point of the word 'catch'..." He ranted as he rocked back and forth. Ralts face-palmed, realizing her master was sitting this one out.

As Sean had a mental breakdown, Jenna followed Absol through the forest, and soon, the two of them ended up by a riverbank. "Sol." He muttered.

"What is it?" Jenna asked, and then followed Absol's eyes. What she saw shocked her greatly. She saw a large pile of food, badges, ribbons, and even items of clothing, all piled into the same spot. "Why is all of this stuff here...?"

Without warning, a bright beam of light fired out of the bushes towards Jenna. She was paralyzed by the ambush, and she would have been hurt if Absol hadn't intercepted the blow. "Sol!" Absol barked, as the light bounced harmlessly off of him. Jenna rubbed her eyes, and embraced Absol.

"Thanks, Absol!" She chirped.

"Sol." Absol replied.

Suddenly, Matt came in behind them. "Jenna! I'm here to rescue you!" He shouted heroically.

"Oh. My hero." Jenna joked.

"Espurr!" Something cried out from the shadows. Matt and Jenna turned towards the cry, and saw a fluffy, gray pokemon, with large, soulless, purple eyes. "Espurr!" It cried again, and shot another beam of purple light at Jenna, which Absol blocked once more.

"Sol!" Absol yelled back at Jenna to get her attention. Once he had it, he cocked his head at the pile of items, and then gestured angrily towards Espurr.

"What?!" Jenna understood, and became furious. "So you stole all this! How dare you?! People probably loved this stuff, and you just took it!"

Espurr stared directly at Jenna, and then stuck out its tongue at her. "Espurr-purr." It taunted her.

Jenna scowled. "Okay then, fine. I'll _make_ you give all this stuff back!"

"Sol!" Absol cried, and then faced towards the rogue pokemon.

"Espuuurr!" Espurr shouted, and then shot another purple beam towards Absol. Absol didn't even attempt to dodge the attack, and it didn't even leave a scratch on him.

"Sol." He growled threateningly.

"Purr?" Espurr tilted its head in confusion.

Jenna smirked. "Absol, use pursuit!" She ordered.

Absol charged towards Espurr, giving it no opportunity to flee. Espurr's eyes began to glow blue, and it lashed out at Absol with a psychic force. "Espurr!" It hissed as it attacked. Absol once again shrugged off Espurr's attack, and smashed into it. "Purr!" It cried as it rolled away.

"Sol!" Absol yelled at the gray pokemon.

"Espurr!" It retorted, and then began running straight at Absol. It lashed out at him with its small paws, and raked him with nearly unnoticeable claws.

Absol looked down at Espurr, clearly unamused by the attack. "Sol?" He taunted.

Espurr looked up at Absol with fear in its eyes, and began to slowly back away. "Purr…" It begged.

Jenna refused to relent, and decided to finish the fight. "Absol. Use bite!"

Absol quickly closed the gap between himself and Espurr, and bared his fangs. Espurr tried to run, but Absol pounced on him, and wrapped his teeth around its head. "Espurr!" It cried out in fear, and began to cry, as it expected Absol to bite down on its head. But after several seconds, Absol released Espurr's head, and set it down gently. Espurr looked up in surprise, and saw Jenna smirking at it.

"So, are you ready to return all this stolen stuff?" She asked it cockily. She expected Espurr to lash out again, or to taunt her, but instead, it started to cry.

"Espuuuuuurr!" It wailed loudly, and Jenna's smirk vanished. "Espuuuuuurr!"

"Wha… What?" She gasped.

"Jenna!" Matt yelled from behind her, and she turned to look at him. He was glaring at her angrily, and he seemed ready to explode. "What is wrong with you?!"

"W-What?"

"You nearly killed that poor thing! Look at it! Its crying out of complete fear!" He fumed.

Jenna felt guilt stab her in the chest, and looked over at Espurr, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. "I-I… I just wanted to scare it into giving everything back!"

"Oh you scared it all right!" Matt raged. "Scared it to death! Your monster of a pokemon nearly ended its thievery permanently!"

Jenna's eyes began to water, and she looked over at Absol, who also seemed disappointed in her. "I'm sorry! I just…"

"You just nearly killed a wild pokemon!" Matt finished his rant, and then pointed at the crying gray pokemon. "Now go to it, and say you're sorry!"

Jenna instantly walked over to Espurr, who shied away as soon as it saw her. "I… I'm sorry, Espurr!" She apologized feverishly. "I just wanted to scare you into returning all the stuff you stole! I didn't mean to… Mean to…" She buried her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry!" Espurr looked up at Jenna with teary eyes, and then simply stared at her. The pokemon's gaze twisted the knife in Jenna's heart, and she felt like throwing up. "My… My friend… He's good at helping pokemon… Do you… Do you wanna go see him? He's back in the field just a little way away."

Espurr stopped crying, and then nodded at Jenna. "Eee...eee...espurr." It cried, and then painstakingly brought itself to its feet. Every step it took caused Jenna's guilt to tear into her even deeper.

Matt and Absol continued to stare angrily at Jenna, and then Matt turned away. "Come here, Espurr. I'll take you to the nice man who will heal you." Espurr nodded at him, and began to follow closely behind him. Jenna hung her head in shame, and began trotting slowly behind them.

Jenna, Absol, Matt, and Espurr walked slowly through the dark woods, trudging back towards their rest area. The guilt Jenna felt ate her up every time she looked at Espurr, and she was too choked up to apologize any further. Matt led Espurr through the woods, taking care to help it through more difficult terrain. After several agonizing minutes, the group neared the clearing of the rest area.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the sound of a snapping tree branch came from the group's right side. All of them turned to face the sound, and saw a large branch fall onto the ground with a deafening _"bang." _"Whoa. That was close." Matt breathed a sigh of relief.

Jenna took the incentive to walk over, and investigate the hazard. The branch didn't appear to be rotted or dead, it appeared to have been severed by something. "Matt, it looks like something knocked this down." Jenna reported.

"Knocked it down, huh? What could've done that?" Matt pondered.

"Sol! Sol!" Absol began to shout, and Matt and Jenna turned to him. Their eyes widened, as they noticed something else about their group.

"Where did Espurr go?!" Jenna shouted.

Matt appeared shocked, and he looked around frantically. He reached into his pocket, and cried, "Feebas! Shroomish! Help me sear-" He stopped talking suddenly, and his body went rigid. His eyes were wide open in shock, and he slowly placed both of his hands into his pockets, feeling around inside of them. After a few seconds, he pulled out his hands, and found that they were completely empty, save for one poke ball. "...My… My Feebas… My Shroomish..." He breathed.

Appalled, Jenna reached for her purse, and found that it was open as well. All of her poke balls were missing, in addition to her sketchbook. "No… No…" She whispered.

Jenna and Matt looked at each other, and then to Absol. Absol had a furious glare on its face, and it was looking back in the direction of Espurr's stash of stolen items. "Soooooool…"

Jenna's eyes were ablaze, and she slammed her foot onto the ground. "That stupid, lying, heartless, thief!" She screamed. "It tricked me into feeling sorry for it, and then it stole my stuff!" She slammed her feet on the ground again. "Now it's personal, you little monster!"

Matt looked over at Jenna, and then looked down at the floor. "Um… Is it too late for sorry?" He asked sheepishly.

Jenna shot a glare at Matt, but then, she calmed down. "No… Don't apologize. You thought that I had hurt an innocent pokemon. It tricked both of us." She inhaled, and her fury returned. "Right now, we have to go get our pokemon back. I have a feeling Shroomish catching itself wasn't entirely an accident."

"Right! Let's go!" Matt yelled.

Jenna spun around, and charged back into the forest, Absol running alongside her. Matt ran after the two of them, cradling his lone poke ball as if his life depended on it. The three of them sprinted as fast as they could back to the riverside, praying that the thieves hadn't gotten the chance to escape. As they came to the clearing, Jenna and Absol screeched to a halt, and hid behind a bush. Matt joined them shortly after, and they began to wait.

After a short while, snickering could be heard from the riverside. Jenna slowly looked over the bush, and gritted her teeth angrily. In front of her was Espurr and Shroomish, both of them snickering to each other, while throwing their newly stolen items onto their large pile. Jenna saw her collection of empty poke balls, in addition to Matt's. But her eyes were drawn to one certain object, and when she saw it, her eyes lit up with rage. She was locking eyes with a large, yellow, spiral notebook, with the word "Sketchbook" crudely written on its cover. "So they did take it…" She hissed quietly.

"Mish!" Shroomish laughed, as he tried on a black ribbon.

"Espurr!" Espurr chuckled in response.

"My ribbon…" Matt growled.

"Ready, you two?" Jenna whispered.

"Sol." Absol nodded.

"Let's do it." Matt answered her.

Jenna counted down from three, and then leapt through the bush, causing Espurr and Shroomish to topple over in surprise. "Espurr!" She yelled. "Give us back our pokemon, and our belongings, and we might go easy on you!"

"Sol!" Absol shouted.

Matt shot Shroomish a furious stare. "I won't get tricked by you two a second time. So give me back my Feebas, my poke balls, and my ribbon!" He demanded.

Shroomish stared straight into Matt's eyes, and then sneered at him. "Mish Mish!" It taunted him.

Espurr shook its head, and then glared at Jenna and Absol. "Espurr!" It declared.

Absol snarled, and then looked back at Jenna. "Sol."

Matt reached into his pocket. "I'll take that as a no."

"Fine!" Jenna screamed, her anger exploding out of her. "This time, you'll have to beg me for mercy! Absol! Let's go!"

"Vulpix! Spotlight!" Matt called, and then threw his poke ball into the air.

The poke ball released the red fox, and she glared at the two pokemon in front of her. "Pix!" She barked.

"Purr!" Espurr hissed.

"Mish!" Shroomish yelled.

"Absol! Use pursuit on Espurr!" Jenna declared.

"Vulpix! Fire spin on Shroomish!" Matt followed suit.

"Sol!" Absol growled, and charged towards the small gray cat.

"Vulpix!" Vulpix responded, and shot a fiery tornado towards Shroomish.

Jenna smirked. _This fight's already over. We'll teach these thieves. _She gloated to herself. As Jenna gloated, Absol closed in on Espurr. But this time, Espurr saw him coming, and leapt nimbly out of the way, catching Absol off guard. "What?" Jenna whispered.

Nearly in sync, Shroomish jumped away from Vulpix's attack, and landed mere feet away from Absol. "Pix?" Vulpix questioned, shocked at the pokemon's performance.

When Shroomish landed, it let a cloud of purple powder out of the opening on its head. Absol wasn't paying attention to the small mushroom pokemon, and the cloud enveloped him. The purple powder surrounded him, and he began to cough violently. "Sol! Sol!" He wheezed.

Jenna snapped back to reality, and scowled. _Of course. They were holding back before. _She realized. "Absol! Get out of the poison powder!" She ordered.

"Vulpix, help Absol! Use ember on Shroomish!" Matt commanded.

"Pix!" Vulpix cried, as it shot flaming embers at the small mushroom. However, mere moments before they connected, a solid wall of yellow light appeared in front of Shroomish, stopping the embers dead in their tracks. "Vulpix!" She yelled in frustration. Matt looked over to the side of Vulpix, and saw Espurr creating the wall, with its eyes glowing yellow.

"Vulpix! That light screen won't come down until we stop Espurr!" Matt explained, and then got an idea. "Vulpix! Use ember on the light screen!" Vulpix was confused, but obeyed his order, and shot the fiery embers at the wall of light. "Now knock Espurr into the ember with quick attack!" He continued, and Vulpix charged at Espurr.

Absol had leapt away from Shroomish, still coughing loudly from the poison he inhaled. "Absol! Matt can handle Espurr! Use bite on Shroomish!" Jenna commanded.

"Sol!" He understood, and bit into Shroomish. Shroomish flinched, and backed away from Absol.

Meanwhile, Vulpix slammed into Espurr's right side, knocking it towards Shroomish. At that precise moment, the embers had ricocheted off of the light screen, and they rammed into Espurr as it flew. "Purr!" It cried out.

"Yeah! Nice shot, Vulpix!" Matt praised.

Vulpix smiled, proud of her handiwork. But, to everyone's great surprise, Espurr simply stood back up, and brushed itself off. "Purr." It stated calmly.

While Absol was distracted by Vulpix's attack, Shroomish shot two seeds out of its bulb towards Absol. "Absol! Look out!" Jenna cried, but to no avail.

The seeds burrowed into the ground at Absol's feet, and then sprouted into large vines, which gripped Absol tightly. "Sol!" He cried out in surprise. The vines began to glow red, and Absol cried out in pain.

"That's not good." Matt observed. "Vuplix! Focus on Shroomish! Use flame wheel again, like you did in the contest!"

"Vulpix!" She responded, and then began to spin, covering herself in fire. But before she could start moving towards Shroomish, she was knocked away by a purple beam of light. "Pix!" She cried out in pain, and then faced the direction of the beam, where Espurr was waging its paw at her tauntingly. Furious, she got to her feet, and prepared to use fire spin on Espurr.

"Vulpix! Behind you!" Matt tried to warn his pokemon.

Vulpix spun around, and saw a completely healed Shroomish standing inches away, releasing an orange powder from its bulb. "Mish!" It cried out at her. The orange fog enveloped Vulpix, and suddenly, she froze.

"Vulpix! Get out of there!" Matt yelled, but Vulpix didn't move. She began to twitch, as sparks of electricity ran throughout her body.

Jenna was infuriated, and she looked at her immobilized pokemon. "Absol! Get out of the leech seed! Vulpix needs you!" Absol heard her, and struggled against the large vines. After they drained his energy one more time, he broke free, and hacked once from the poison. "Good! Now use bite on Shroomish again!"

Absol nodded to her, and charged at Shroomish. "Use fire spin on Espurr!" Matt called out to his pokemon. Vulpix forced herself to move, and then turned away from Shroomish, trusting in Absol.

"Espurr!" Espurr called out to Shroomish, and then shot another purple beam at Vulpix.

"Mish!" Shroomish responded, and turned back to Absol, who was currently closing the distance between them.

"Vulpix! Catch the psybeam with your fire spin!" Matt ordered.

"Pix!" Vulpix cried out, and then created the fire tornado over her head. She launched it at Espurr, and its rotations forced the beam into its grasp. Espurr scowled, and then jumped out of the way of the twister.

At that moment, Absol had caught up to Shroomish. He bypassed the yellow screen surrounding Shroomish, and bit it once more. Absol was surprised, as Shroomish didn't even cry out in pain. "Sol?" He growled through his teeth.

"Absol! Let go of it!" Jenna cried.

Absol let go of Shroomish, and then noticed why Jenna had yelled at him. A green beam was firing towards him out of Shroomish's bulb, and he had no chance to avoid it. "Sol!" He shouted, as the beam struck him, draining the life out of him.

Shroomish began to glow, and its previous bitemarks disappeared as the green light returned to him. "Mish." It stated.

Jenna began to sweat, and she looked over at Vulpix, whose fire spin was currently being blocked by Espurr's light screen. At that exact moment, Espurr's eyes lit up, and Vulpix was struck by confusion. "Vulpix can't fight as long as light screen is up… And Absol can't fight Shroomish because it keeps sapping his energy…" She whispered to herself. Inspiration suddenly dawned on her, and she turned to Absol. "Absol! Use pursuit on Shroomish! Hit the light screen with all your might!"

Absol gritted his teeth as the poison struck him once more, and then charged at Shroomish. "Absoooooool!" It howled, as it slammed into Shroomish, shattering its barrier, and knocking it towards Vulpix.

Matt and Vulpix turned towards the now exposed Shroomish, and Jenna shouted, "He's all yours, Matt!" Then she turned towards Espurr, and ordered Absol, "Absol! Use bite on Espurr!"

"Quickly, Vulpix! Use fire spin before Espurr makes another light screen!" Matt commanded.

"Pix!" Vulpix replied.

"Sol!" Absol answered as he ran towards Espurr.

"Mish!" Shroomish cried as it tried to run from Vulpix's attack. Unfortunately, the tornado of flame caught it before it could escape, capturing it in its fiery vortex.

"Espurr!" Espurr taunted, as it jumped out of Absol's way.

"Absol! Pursuit!" Jenna called immediately.

Absol pivoted on his back leg, and leapt straight towards Espurr. Espurr's purple eyes flew open, and she winced as Absol slammed into it. "Purr!" It grimaced.

Jenna looked behind Absol, and saw Shroomish preparing to fire another leech seed at him. "Matt! Switch!" She yelled to her friend, and he understood.

"Vulpix! Burn the leech seed!" Matt ordered.

Vulpix leapt into the air, and shot another vortex of fire at the ground, directly in front of Shroomish. The flames succeeded, and the seeds were burnt to a crisp before they could reach Absol. Jenna then noticed Espurr firing another psybeam at Vulpix, while it was helpless in the air. "Absol! Take the psybeam!"

Absol sprinted towards Vulpix, and leapt into the air, intercepting the psychic beam. Espurr scowled, and Shroomish's eyes widened in shock. "Vulpix! Use quick attack on Espurr!"

"Absol! Use slash on Shroomish!"

The two pokemon obeyed as fast as they could, and rushed their targets at blinding speed. Vulpix tackled Espurr faster than it could react, and Absol slashed Shroomish with its blue horn. Both pokemon cried out in unison, as they tumbled away from the attacks. Espurr pulled itself back to its feet with a furious glare in her eyes, and began charging up another psybeam. Angry and disoriented, Shroomish stood back up, and began to charge mega drain. Jenna looked over to Matt, and nodded at him. He nodded back at her, and their pokemon mimicked them.

"Finish it off, Absol!" Jenna shouted to her pokemon. "Give Vulpix a boost, then use pursuit on Espurr!"

Absol nodded to Vulpix, who nodded back, and ran straight for him. Espurr and Shroomish both fired their attacks at the two pokemon, putting their all into it. Vulpix reached Absol, and jumped onto his back. "Sol!" Absol roared, and bucked Vulpix into the air, as she simultaneously kicked off of his back. Now facing attacks from both sides, Absol quickly looked to Jenna, who watched intently, waiting for the ideal moment.

When both of the attacks were nearly upon Absol, Jenna screamed, "JUMP!" Absol responded as quickly as he could, and narrowly avoided the attacks. They collided underneath him, and the resulting explosion propelled him towards Espurr.

"Vulpix! Use flame wheel now!" Matt called to his pokemon, who was now descending on Shroomish.

"Vuuulpix!" Vulpix screamed, as she began to spin as quickly as possible, becoming a wheel of fire. Shroomish looked up at her, and its eyes widened in fear. Vulpix charged down at him from the sky, spinning faster and faster as she went. Shroomish was too stunned to move, and Vulpix landed right on top of him, her flames burning him, in addition to the force of the blow knocking him straight onto his back. Vulpix spun into him for a few more seconds, and then leapt off of him, landing gracefully behind him, with her back turned. Shroomish didn't get back up, he just lay on his back, with a dazed expression on his face.

At the same time, Absol was sailing through the air towards Espurr, his momentum carrying him forward even as he landed back on his feet. "Absol! Use pursuit one more time!" Jenna commanded him.

"Absoool!" He cried out as he careened towards the small cat-like pokemon.

Espurr gritted its teeth, and raised a light screen, hoping to shield itself. But due to his increased speed, Absol's attack was far too strong, and he shattered straight through the light screen, rocketing Espurr away. "Espuuuuuuurr!" It wailed, as it sailed through the air, and crashed into the pile of stolen belongings, disappearing underneath them.

Matt and Jenna waited for the two thieves to get back up, but they never did. Triumphantly, Matt pulled an empty poke ball out of his bag, and threw it at Shroomish. The poke ball pulled it inside, not even shaking once before it clicked, showing that Shroomish was caught. Matt walked over to the poke ball, and happily raised it high into the air. "Yeah! I caught a Shroomish! Again!"

"Vulpix!" Vulpix cheered as well, and then froze up, paralysis seizing her again.

Matt smiled at his pokemon, and then pulled out her poke ball. He clicked the button, and called her back. "Come on and return, Vulpix. You were awesome today."

Jenna beamed at Absol, who shot her back a small grin. "Sol." He purred, and then coughed violently due to the poison.

Jenna pulled out his poke ball, and clicked the button. "Return, Absol. You were fantastic." She praised him, as he was sucked back inside the small capsule. Jenna placed the poke ball back in her pocket, and then, her smile faded. She looked over to the pile of stolen items, and began walking towards it. She approached the pile, and saw Espurr roll out of it, struggling to stand up. Espurr saw her approaching, and attempted to flee, inevitably falling down on its stomach.

"Espurr…" It cursed.

Jenna closed the distance between herself and the pokemon, and then knelt down in front of it. "Well, Espurr… I never got to finish what I wanted to say to you…" She growled threateningly, and then raised her fist into the air. Espurr closed its eyes and whimpered, preparing for Jenna to strike it. Its purple eyes widened in shock as Jenna didn't strike it. Instead Jenna gently placed her hand on its head, and pet it slowly.

"Purr?" Espurr questioned.

Jenna smiled at the small gray cat. "I'm sorry. I've been far too hard on you." She apologized. "You've had a hard life, haven't you? Having to resort to stealing in order to eat everyday? It must be rough." Espurr was now staring into Jenna's eyes, with a look of pure bewilderment on its face.

Jenna stopped petting Espurr, and looked away from it. "I shouldn't have been so rough with you." She continued to apologize. "Its just… When I was a kid, somebody stole my sketchbook. And… I never got it back." Espurr's large eyes somehow grew even wider, and Jenna looked back at it. "I guess I took all that rage out on you. And… That wasn't fair. So… I'm sorry."

Espurr was still star-struck, and Jenna stopped smiling, and put on a stern expression. "But even if I was too rough on you, and you have had a hard life, stealing is still wrong." She scolded. "All those innocent people and pokemon you stole from probably really miss all of this. You stole the most important things in the world to me, and that is inexcusable." Espurr looked to the side, avoiding Jenna's piercing eyes.

"Espurr…" It muttered. Jenna then stood back up, and smiled once more.

"Espurr… You already know that its wrong. You just did it out of necessity." Jenna continued to ramble. "And I know that old habits die hard, so you probably aren't willing to return all this…" Jenna beamed, and reached into the pile. "...So that's why, from now on, we'll be partners." Espurr's eyes shot back to Jenna, who was now holding a poke ball in her hand. "We'll return all of this together. And from now on, we'll fight with each other, not against each other."

"Purr…?" Espurr breathed, absolutely paralyzed.

Jenna held the poke ball out in front of her, and tilted her head happily. "Welcome to my team, Espurr!" She cheered, as she clicked the button, and the poke ball shot a red beam towards Espurr. Espurr didn't try to evade the beam, and just accepted it. For just a brief second, as Espurr was being sucked into the capsule, Jenna saw its mouth slowly curl into a smile. As the poke ball clicked, Jenna looked at it, and happily whispered, "You won't need to steal anymore. I'll show you what a good life is like."

From behind her, Jenna suddenly heard applause, and she turned around to see Matt approaching her. "So you caught that Espurr, huh? Congrats!" He congratulated her.

Jenna smiled at him, and then turned back to the pile of stolen items. "So, let's grab what belongs to us."

Matt groaned loudly. "Are we actually going to return all of this stuff?"

"Yes, we are." Jenna declared, as she put her sketchbook and poke balls back into her purse.

Matt sighed, and then walked over to the pile. "I guess we'd better go let Sean know." He picked up the poke balls that belonged to him, put them in his pocket, and then began searching for his ribbon case. "Jenna, most of this stuff is food. I doubt whoever they stole that from will want it back."

Jenna inspected the pile again, and found that Matt was right. The majority of the pile was berries, nuts, and other miscellaneous foods. "I guess they really were stealing out of necessity…" She whispered. "Well, lets just pick out anything that isn't food. We'll return anything that has a name on it."

"Got it." Matt responded, and began to pick through the pile.

After nearly twenty minutes of shuffling through the pile, Matt and Jenna had sorted out every item that wasn't food. To their amazement, there were only about two dozen items laid out in front of them. Among them were two t-shirts, a jacket, a shiny stone, six CDs, two ribbons, three badges, and a very odd-looking bracelet. Of all these items, only the bracelet had identification. The other items appeared as if they had no owner. "So… I guess we're keeping all of this." Jenna declared.

Matt scratched his head in confusion. "Only one item out of this entire pile had a name on it? I guess no one is going to miss all of these." He observed, and then picked up the bracelet, examining the writing on its underside. "Terro... I feel like I've heard that name before…"

Jenna looked at the six CDs more closely, and shook her head. "I don't get these discs either… What's up with the numbers on them? 4, 33, 68, 75, 81, and 99. It makes no sense." She sighed, and then began stuffing all the items into her purse. "Finders keepers, I guess. We'll look for the owner of that bracelet at the next town."

Matt nodded, and helped her put the items away. "Yeah. Anyway, we should head back to Sean. We need to keep going to the next town."

Jenna chuckled. "Yeah, I hope he's done having a breakdown." Matt laughed at her comment, and then zipped up Jenna's purse. The two of them then stood up, and began walking back towards the clearing where their friend was.

About halfway back to the clearing, they heard a familiar voice. "Vee! Vee!"

Jenna turned towards the sound, and noticed her Eevee running towards her. "Hey, Eevee! I'm back!" She shouted, and then caught Eevee as he jumped into her arms.

"Vee Vee!" He cheered as he snuggled into his trainer's grip.

"So there you two are!" Matt and Jenna turned to their left, and saw Sean and Ralts jogging towards them.

"Where have you been this entire time?" Matt questioned him.

"I was going to ask you the same question! You've been gone for a few hours!" Sean exclaimed.

Jenna gasped. "Hours?"

Sean smirked at the two of them. "Yeah. Hours. Ralts and I played with Eevee so much that he might as well be _my _pokemon." He joked.

"S-sorry! We lost track of time!" Jenna tried to explain. "You see, we found this Espurr, and it turned out that it was a thief! So I fought it, and tried to make it give back the stolen stuff, but then it tricked me and Matt into feeling bad for it! And then, when we weren't looking, it stole our stuff! It also turned out the Shroomish caught itself on purpose so that we would let our guard down! Then Matt and I had a battle with them, and well, long story short, we both have three pokemon each now!"

Sean was staring at Jenna with a look of complete confusion. He glanced over at Matt, who nodded to confirm her story. "Yeaaaaah, ok. So anyway, I don't think that we'll be reaching the city today." He turned away, and began walking. "Come on. Ralts, Eevee and I set up camp."

"Ralts!" Ralts cheered.

"Vee!" Eevee cheered as well.

Matt smirked, and ran up beside Sean. "So, I see you got over your breakdown?" He teased.

"Eh? Oh yeah. I calmed down hours ago." Sean responded completely seriously.

Matt seemed disappointed. "Not the reaction I expected…" He muttered.

Jenna ran up to the rest of the group, and they exited the dark forest. As they returned to their campsite, Jenna looked up at the sky, which was now dyed a shade of orange, and the sun was nearing the edge of the horizon. "Were we really gone that long?" She whispered. After receiving no response, she looked down at the campsite, which had gotten a makeover in her absence. There were now three small, green tents, which were pitched with sticks, a large red blanket spread over the ground, and a small cooking area, with a bundle of sticks lying underneath a pot of water. "Sean... did you set this up?" Jenna gaped.

"Yeah. I told you that we set up camp." Sean responded plainly, before walking over to the cooking area.

"How much is in that bag of his…?" Jenna murmured.

"This is awesome!" Matt commented excitedly.

"Now Jenna, you start the fire for the stew. Matt and I will take care of healing everyone's pokemon." Sean held out his hand. "Absol and Espurr are hurt, right?"

Jenna nodded, pulled her two poke balls out of her pocket, and handed them to Sean. "I'll take care of the fire now." She informed the others, and ran over to the cooking station, with Eevee along behind her. As they left, Sean and Matt walked over to the blanket on the ground.

"Ralts, go watch over Jenna for me, would you?" Sean whispered to his pokemon, and she ran off to the cooking station. Sean then sat down on the blanket, and released Jenna's two pokemon. Absol collapsed onto his side, while Espurr sat down calmly. "Matt. Please let me look at Shroomish and Vulpix now." Matt nodded in understanding, and released both Vulpix and Shroomish from their poke balls. Shroomish cringed as it touched the ground, and Vulpix collapsed without a sound. "Let's see..." Sean began, as he closely inspected all of the pokemon.

Absol coughed violently, and Espurr stared curiously at Sean as he looked over them. Vulpix didn't react to his gaze, and Shroomish cringed in pain. Then, Sean began to shuffle through his bag. "So, Absol has a few wounds that need healing, as well as poison that needs an antidote." He pulled out two round, blue berries, and a pink berry shaped like a peach. He set them down in front of Absol, and nodded at him. "Eat these. They will make you feel better, trust me." After instructing Absol, Sean turned to his next patient. "Vulpix is also in need of healing. But first, I need to get rid of that paralysis." Sean set a purple spray bottle off to the side, and then set down a red berry, with a long green stem. "Matt. Make Vulpix eat that berry before you spray her wounds, alright?"

"On it." Matt answered, picking up the red berry.

Carrying on, Sean looked over at the two new pokemon. He took a long look at Shroomish, and then sighed deeply. "Vulpix, what did you do to this poor thing...?" He muttered. "So you'll need something to treat this burn, in addition to your other injuries." He set a light blue, strawberry-esque fruit directly in front of Shroomish, and then several of the round blue berries behind that one. "Make sure to eat the rawst berry first, alright?" Sean told the green pokemon, before turning to face his last patient. Espurr was still eyeing him curiously, and Sean knelt down in front of it. "You poor girl… Berries won't heal these wounds." He reached deep into his bag, and pulled out an orange and red spray bottle. "This is going to sting… I'm sorry, I can't help that." Sean warned the small cat, and then sprayed the contents of the bottle onto her.

"Purr!" She cringed, as the spray seeped onto her injuries. She cringed for a few more seconds, and then opened her eyes in shock. Her wounds were disappearing, and she no longer felt the sting of the medicine. She looked up at Sean, and he patted her on the head.

"There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sean finished. After administering the medicine to Espurr, Sean stood up and looked around, observing his handiwork. Matt was feeding the berry to Vulpix, while Absol and Shroomish were scarfing down theirs. Asbol shot to his feet after devouring the berries, and stretched his limbs vigorously. Shroomish stood up as well, beaming as he felt his ailments disappear. After being sprayed with the purple bottle, Vulpix jumped out of Matt's grasp, purring affectionately at him. Satisfied, Sean concluded, "Matt, make sure that Vulpix sticks to light walking today. The berry might take a little while to completely clear out the paralysis. And try to keep Shroomish from moving too much, if you can." Matt smiled, and nodded in understanding. "And as for you, Absol, sit and rest while we make dinner. I want to make sure the berry has a chance to wipe out the toxins."

"Sol." Absol responded, and then laid back down on his stomach.

Sean breathed a sigh of relief, and tugged on his shirt collar. "Looks like we're all good, then."

"Sean, you're so talented!" Matt chimed from nearby.

Sean scratched his head awkwardly. "Oh, thanks."

"I'm serious!" Matt insisted. "How did you learn to help pokemon this well? I couldn't do half the stuff you just did!"

Sean nervously ran his fingers through his long hair. "I didn't really do anything special… I just gave them the right medicine."

"That's a talent by itself!" Matt carried on. "It took you all of five seconds to find out what was wrong with all of them, and then you knew what to give them just as quickly! Have you always been this good?"

Sean turned away. "No, not always." He began to toy with his necklace. "I used to spend most of my life in my house. I didn't go outside much, so I spent a lot of time with my mom. She taught me most of the things I know. Like how to cook, for example."

"Oh. So your mom taught you?" Matt queried.

"Yup. Pretty much everything I know about healing came from her." Sean sighed. "I've just had a lot of time to practice. That's all."

"Make all the excuses you want, I know you're talented." Matt replied defiantly. Sean continued playing with his necklace, and Matt's eyes locked onto it. The red stone was gleaming in the lowering sun, and Matt examined it closely. "That stone..." He leaned in closer. "It looks a lot like the one on my bracelet."

"What do you-" Sean tried to talk, but Matt was already shoving his wristwear into his face. It was a charm bracelet with multiple trinkets on it, but the one that stood out the most was a blue sphere, the same shape and size as Sean's.

"Where did you get yours?" Matt questioned.

Sean stammered over his words for a bit. "Ummmm...It was a gift."

"Really? So was mine!" Matt chimed. "Heh, that's really funny."

"Answer the question!" A voice suddenly rang out from the cooking station.

Sean groaned, and then turned towards the station. "Obviously, Jenna and Ralts are having an issue with dinner. I'll be back." Not waiting for a reply, Sean hurried over to the small girl, and his pokemon, who were currently arguing.

"Will you help me or not?!" Jenna yelled.

"Ralts." Ralts smirked, and turned her back to Jenna.

"You're so unbelievable!" Jenna shouted, and then turned away from Ralts.

Eevee just sighed, and continued trying to make a fire. "Vee…."

Sean stared at the scene before him, and shook his head. "You didn't even start the fire?" He questioned sardonically.

"Don't look at me! I've been trying for the last ten minutes!" Jenna explained frantically. "I don't actually know how to start a fire, so I asked Ralts to help me! But she's giving me absolutely no input!"

Sean blinked once, and tilted his head. "You do realize that Ralts is a pokemon, right? She couldn't give you the answer even if she knew it."

"W-well she could have been a little nicer about it!" Jenna cried, and Ralts snickered.

"Okay, look. I'll start the fire. You two, make up." Sean knelt by the wood underneath the pot of water. "Watch me. You take two stones, and you rub them together in order to create a spark."

"Vee Vee!" Eevee watched intently, and Ralts and Jenna also paid attention.

Sean vigorously rubbed the rocks together, causing a spark. The spark flew onto the wood, creating a small flame. "Now, just lightly blow on the flame to make it spread." He instructed, and then steadily blew on the fire. Eevee copied him, and soon, the small flame had become a large fire. "And there we have it."

"Ralts!" Ralts cheered for him.

"Vee Vee!" Eevee followed.

Jenna's face turned red, and she looked away. "It didn't work when I did it..." She grumbled.

Sean smiled at Jenna. "It's ok. You'll get better as time goes on." He patted her on her head. "All it takes is practice."

Jenna blushed feverishly. "P-please don't treat me like a kid…" She whined.

Sean laughed at her expression, and then retracted his hand. "Well then, you can help me cook. Could you get the ingredients out of my bag?"

"Of course!" Jenna yelled, and sprinted over to Sean's bag.

Ralts shook her head as Jenna ran away, and looked up at Sean. "Ralts." She declared.

"Yeah, she's an odd one alright." He agreed, and then picked Ralts up, and placed her on his shoulder. "You can help me cook too."

Ralts grinned, and clapped her hands together. "Ralts Ralts!"

Sean chuckled at her, and then Jenna returned, bags in hand. "I got everything!" She declared proudly.

"I see you did. Bring them over here, and we'll start." Sean ordered, and Jenna brought the bags to him. While waiting for the water to boil, Eevee, Ralts, Sean, and Jenna began preparations.

As they worked, Jenna broke the silence. "So, um, are you the cook in your family?"

Sean smiled at her. "Oh no, my mom is. Trust me, she's far better than me. I only know some simple recipes."

"Gotcha." Jenna replied, slicing into a carrot.

"What about you?" Sean fired the question back.

Jenna giggled. "No. That would be my dad. He told me I don't need to worry about cooking." She scratched her head sheepishly. "Obviously he was wrong, huh?"

Sean sliced into a carrot once more. "No, I agree. I can cook if necessary. You don't need to worry about it."

"Oh… Ok." Jenna quietly replied, and then continued to work in silence.

After 40 minutes of cooking, the sun had set, and the food was ready. "Matt, food's done." Sean called out to him. Very shortly after being called, Matt came into view, and he looked like a walking playground. He was carrying Vulpix in one arm, Espurr in the other, and Shroomish sat on his head. Absol seemed to want no part of the fun, as he was just walking beside Matt. Matt sat down, and put the pokemon on the ground, near the fire. He then called Feebas out of his poke ball, and hooked him up to his special collar. Sean filled several bowls up with stew, and passed one out to everyone. "Enjoy."

After they had received their meal, everyone sat down in a ring around the fire, and dug in. They devoured their food, whether they were using their spoons, or their mouths. They all wanted to compliment Sean on his cooking, but they refused to stop eating. When Ralts finished, she tugged on Sean's sleeve, and he checked the pot. "We have more. Who want-" Everyone pushed their bowls forward before he could finish talking. "Um... okay then."

After wolfing down their second bowls, everyone sighed contentedly. Jenna yawned loudly, and then stood up. "I'm gonna change, ok?" She didn't wait for a response, and she walked into her tent to change into her pajamas. After a minute or so, she returned, clad in blue and white pajamas. She walked back towards the group with her purse in hand, and reclaimed her spot around the fire. "That tent is actually kind of roomy. Where did you find the materials for it?" She questioned Sean.

"Well Ralts and I searched for sticks that we could dig into the ground, and Eevee looked for leaves..." Sean scratched his head. "So… yeah. Let's hope it doesn't rain tonight."

A silence fell over the camp, and Matt groaned. "Thanks for asking, Jenna. Now I know I'm sleeping under leaves and sticks."

"Hey, it's all I had, ok?" Sean complained. "Besides, you all have sleeping bags, right?"

"Yeah, but I thought we would be sleeping in luxury." Matt whined.

Jenna sighed, and reached into her purse. In the darkness, she knocked something out of her bag, and she gasped. "Oh… Where did it go?" She groaned, as she scanned the ground for the object. She found it before Sean and Matt could even help search, and she held it up in front of her. "Whew… Glad it didn't fall very far." The fire illuminated the object, and the group took a closer look at it. Jenna was holding a neck collar, made up of one strand of plain, black lace. Its only remarkable feature was a round, yellow stone, that bore a striking resemblance to Sean's necklace, and Matt's bracelet.

"Hey, that looks like…" Matt observed.

"Jenna, where did you get that?" Sean asked, staring straight at it.

"My collar?" Jenna lifted it up higher. "It was a birthday gift. Why do you ask?" Sean flashed his necklace to her, and Matt showed off his bracelet. "Whoa! That's cool!" She cheered.

"Yeah. It's funny how we all got them as gifts." Matt adds in. "Who gave you yours, Sean?"

"My mom." Sean said plainly, and then stood up. "Anyways, I'm going to to to sleep. Expect me to wake you up early tomorrow." He picked up Ralts, and began walking towards his tent. "Goodnight."

"Um… Goodnight, Sean." Jenna replied.

"Goodnight."

"Vee!"

"Pix!"

"Feebas."

As Sean entered his makeshift tent, Ralts turned to face him. "Ralts." She stated, in a tone that Sean understood completely.

"We can trust them, Ralts. Don't worry, you'll see." Sean assured her.

"Ralts…" She whispered.

Sean smiled, and embraced his pokemon. "Everything will be alright." Ralts smiled once more, and Sean placed a blanket over her. "Goodnight, Ralts." With that, Sean closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

"I swear, boss! They were right here!" The cloaked man shouted.

"Yeah, we saw them! They robbed us blind!" The second man added in.

"You dragged us all the way out here for nothing?" The woman beside them chastised.

"I swear!" The first man insisted, and pointed towards the pile of food. "Those pokemon stole my stone! Not only that, they swiped one of our TMs!"

"You got robbed by wild pokemon? How stupid are you?" The woman continued to scold.

"Also, I don't see your TM or stone here. Its all just food." A fourth man added in.

"Someone else must've made off with them!" The second man cursed.

"This wouldn't be happening if you were a better trainer…"

"What did you just say to me, you little-"

"All of you, shut up." A fifth man silenced the group. "You got robbed by wild pokemon, and now, you've wasted all of our time by dragging us out here." The man turned away. "I'll think of an appropriate punishment for you. But for now, we must go to Clover City. Our target obviously is not here."

"Sir!" The four figures all saluted him.

"Good. Let's move then." The fifth man finished, and began walking away. As the small group began to leave, the fifth man whispered to himself, "You won't escape me again, you little pest… The commander requested your presence, and your presence, he will receive…"


End file.
